Plans for bargaining, organizing and political action were intensely discussed as UE Local 893-Iowa United Professionals held its 26th annual convention July 26 . “Members representing all areas of the state were in attendance and they were enthusiastic about the issues,” says Local President Becky Dawes. “Our Local will be heading into negotiations with the state in late fall and early winter, and we anticipate a difficult time due to the national economy and the additional impact of the state’s recent natural disasters.”
President Dawes gave delegates an overview of the union’s work over the past year and the difficult tasks ahead. International Representative Greg Cross summarized the results of membership contract surveys which establish the local’s priorities at the bargaining table.
Western Region President Carl Rosen announced the dates of upcoming regional educational meetings that will take place October 11 and 12 in Iowa City and Sioux Falls. These will include tracing highlights of UE history in Iowa stretching back to the 1930s. Rosen also reported on current organizing and first contract struggles around the Western Region.
UE Political Action Director Chris Townsend reviewed the Iowa legislative session and UE’s statewide political action over the past year. The veto by Gov. Chet Culver (D) of improvements to Iowa’s public sector collective bargaining law, after the reform bill was passed by the Iowa Senate and House, left a bitter taste for UE members. “Gov. Culver decided to take the low road and veto these modest improvements in Iowa’s public employee bargaining law.” The proposed improvements, said Townsend, would have filled in gaps that were left in Iowa’s public sector bargaining law since it was adopted in early 1970s by a Republican legislature and governor. “Instead of standing up against the business community and the anti-labor Republican fringe, he chose to abandon some of his most enthusiastic supporters. Now we know where he stands... in the clutch, he can’t be relied upon by working people.”
Despite this betrayal by Gov. Culver, Townsend told delegates, we need to get our members prepared to end the Bush-Cheney national nightmare on Election Day. “We also need to ensure that voters place a solid majority of pro-worker Democrats into the Iowa House this November, so that the House and Senate can both impose their will on Gov.Culver.”
UE National President John Hovis reviewed the bleak economic news, including fuel and food prices up, 340,000 homes lost, rising unemployment and financial institutions in chaos. He said employers are accelerating their direct attacks on workers’ present and future security. “Companies are cutting retiree health insurance and abandoning defined benefit pension plans in favor of less secure 401(k) savings plans or no plan at all,” he said. With workers seeing the value of their 401(k) investments erode in a troubled stock market, “many have been forced to put off their plans to retire.” But, said the UE president, “all is not hopeless,” with an election fast approaching that offers “an opportunity to start to turn things around, but only if we get our members registered and to the polls to vote.” In the meantime, said Hovis, in Iowa “it means getting our members informed and mobilized to take on the state.”
ORGANIZING FOR BARGAINING
The education portion of the day was a workshop on orientation for new hires, presented by the University of Iowa Labor Center. Its focus was on organizing new employees into the union by involving them with the union’s bargaining program. It included a power point presentation and , hands-on activities including role playing. Beth Austin, Local 893 Recording Secretary and member of UE’s General Executive Board, thought this was the most important portion of the convention. “We’re trying to build the union so we go into negotiations wityh and increase in membership. We want the state to see that more people care about what we’re negotiating.”
The convention honored Karl Shilling, the local’s vice president, on the occasion of his retirement. Karl was presented with a plaque and the occasion was marked celebrated with a cake. He was also inducted into membership in the newly-created Sub-local 88 for retirees.
The following were elected to serve on the negotiating committee: Becky Dawes, Barb Adams, Beth Austin, Mary McElroy, Cleo Hester, Rosann Raymond, Nancy McCard, Sheila Thompson, and Eric Evans. Pat Morrissey was chosen to be an alternate and Mary Dobrochowski as the at-large member.