Background
In 2017, Iowa enacted House File (HF) 291 that made sweeping changes to that state's public sector collective bargaining law. The changes imposed by HF 291 were modeled on those imposed on public sector employees in Wisconsin in 2011.
HF 291 substantially narrows the scope of collective bargaining for non-public safety bargaining units. The new law prohibits negotiations over insurance, leaves of absence for political activities, transfer and evaluation polices, and subcontracting. Other traditional mandatory subjects were made permissive, such as grievance procedures, seniority, hours, vacation and holiday leave, overtime compensation, and health and safety.
The Iowa law also mandates recertification elections to be conducted by the Iowa Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) for each collective bargaining representative in the year prior to the expiration of a contract. To be recertified, a majority of the bargaining unit must vote in favor of continued representation, rather than a majority of those who voted.
The failure of a unit member to vote is counted as a vote against retention of the bargaining representative.
If a union fails to pay the required election fee or fails to make a timely request for an extension to pay the required election fee, the union's certification as the representative of the bargaining unit will be revoked by Iowa PERB.
An employer's failure to file a voter eligibility list with Iowa PERB for purposes of the agency conducting a recertification election will result in an automatic recertification of the bargaining agent for another year. A successor agreement reached during that additional year can further extend the period before a recertification election is required.
Labor historians Colin Gordon and John McKerley have written a recent article entitled Hope in the Heartland, which contextualizes the recent legal changes imposed by HF 291 in the context of Iowa labor history.
Litigation Challenging HF 291
HF 291 is the subject of pending legal challenges in the Iowa courts. A lawsuit by the Iowa State Education Association (ISEA) challenging HF 291 on state constitutional grounds was dismissed by a lower state court judge. A separate lawsuit by AFSCME was also dismissed by a different judge. Both ISEA and AFSCME have announced that they will be appealing.
Recertification Results in September and October 2017
In September and October 2017, Iowa PERB conducted recertification elections for bargaining agents with contracts that expired in 2018. Seven of the 16 collective public sector higher education bargaining units in Iowa with faculty or graduate student employees were the subject of the recertification process.
Of the 16 higher education faculty and graduate student bargaining units in Iowa, the 7 units that were the subject of the recertification process. In one case, the faculty union at Iowa Valley Community College was recertified without an election for a year after the college failed to submit a voter eligibility list to Iowa PERB.
The unofficial tallies from the 6 recertification elections in September and October show that nearly all units were recertified.