Labor union contracts reduced to base wages by Jasper County

Union leaders say the board of supervisors have made an “aggressive and targeted attack” by stripping Jasper County union employees of all their previous contract provisions except wages, but Supervisors Chairman Brandon Talsma objects to these, what he calls, “grandiose” and “very vague” comments.

In a Feb. 10 press release from AFSCME Council 61, the labor union for workers in the courthouse and the sheriff’s office, it states the county’s contract would eliminate essential workplace protections like seniority rights and grievance procedures. The union has called on the county to reconsider its contract.

AFSCME Council 61 also called on the community to stand in solidarity with the workers. The union said county officials five years ago acknowledged state law allows them to gut the contract but they went with a full contract instead. Todd Copley, president of AFSCME Council 61, denounced the board’s new contract.

“This is nothing more than an effort to weaken workers’ rights and silence public employees. Stripping away workplace protections is an attack on the dignity and security of every worker. We will not stand idly by while the board tries to roll back the fundamental rights of those who serve our community.”

All bargaining units in Jasper County — including AFSCME and PPME — met with the board of supervisors on Monday, Feb. 10 to discuss their new contracts.

Talsma told Newton News that protections like seniority rights would be removed, but he argued most of what was in the current union contract still applies to those workers even though it does not expressly lay it out in the contract. Talsma said all of that old language in the current contract is already county policy.

“The contract itself is being stripped down to the bare minimum that state law requires us to have, which is a one-page document and the only thing they can negotiate in accordance with Iowa law is beginning salary,” he said. “Everything else in their current union contract is already in the Jasper County handbook.”

Workplace protections like grievance procedures, Talsma added, still apply to the union workers since it is laid out in the county handbook. Vacation accruals stay the same, too, and Talsma said the county is even creating policy so that workers can keep their longevity pay; the county is already in the works of increasing it.

“Before this ever came up we were in discussions — and it will be on a subsequent agenda — to increase the longevity pay,” Talsma said. “Right now, an employee who has been here for 20 years under the current longevity, which is in their union contract, gets like $938. We’re increasing it.”

However, Talsma said other workplace benefits like seniority rights are likely not going to be added to the county handbook.

Why is the county going this direction with the union contracts? Talsma said it is the board’s belief that it is unnecessary in today’s world.

“It’s not 30 years ago. It’s not 50 years ago,” he said. “Everything they already have is already in the handbook. Jasper County has a 50- or 60-year track history of taking care of employees and trying to treat them fairly. Don’t think it’s necessary. It also makes it hard and cumbersome to deal with certain things.”

For example, Talsma said one of the policies in the secondary roads union contract says employees have to work one year before taking vacation.

“That costs us employees and that costs us new hires coming from other counties,” Talsma said. “There are things like if you’re not coming from a union shop or a union county, you’re starting down at the bottom. Never mind the fact that you’ve been doing whatever it is you’ve been doing for 10 years.”

Talsma argued there are bad provisions in the union contract that are not beneficial for new hires or current county employees or the county itself.

He also said the union has failed to factor in the cost of insurance, which in most part is covered by the county rather than the employees. Insurance has increased significantly over the past decade, but Talsma said the county has never once passed those costs on to the employees.

If the union had taken the county’s offer, Talsma said they would have seen an 8.75 percent increase to their wages over the past 12 months when factoring in past deals.

Talsma said workers have 2.75 percent in their current contract that they have already received. Six months ago, the county also granted the unions a 2 percent supplement to their wages. The county is then offering another 4 percent tacked on to that. In total, that equates to 8.75 percent in additional wages.

“We feel like we’re being pretty generous,” Talsma said.

Talsma noted the meeting with PPME about new contracts went “extremely well,” in contrast to the meeting with AFSCME.

Per state law, union workers cannot go on strike due to them working in the public sector. Chapter 20 of Iowa Code says it is unlawful for any public employee or any employee organization, directly or indirectly, to induce, instigate, encourage, ratify or participate in a strike against any public employer.

In a followup press release, AFSCME Council 61 called the county’s deal “shameful” and Copley condemned the action once more.

“These workers dedicate their lives to serving their community, and this is how the board repays them — by stripping away their rights and job security,” Copley said. “This isn’t about necessity. It’s about power and control. They want public employees to have no voice, no protections, no ability to stand up for themselves. We won’t let that happen.”