DES MOINES – Lawsuits were filed with the Polk County District Court on Monday, February 20, 2017 challenging the constitutionality of HF 291 – the bill that labor unions say guts collective bargaining for public employees in Iowa – and a judge today dealt a blow to the suit.
AFSCME Council 61 President Danny Homan issued the following statement following Judge Gamble’s ruling on the lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of HF291:
“Today we were notified that our request for summary judgment was overruled by Chief District Judge Gamble of the Fifth Judicial District of Iowa.
“Chief Judge Gamble agreed that ‘AFSCME proved disparate treatment of similarly situated individuals under H.F. 291. Some unionized public employees are granted privileges and immunities in the form of collective bargaining rights that are not equally granted to all unionized public employees.’ He did not feel that we fully disproved the excuses given by the State for this unequal treatment by lawmakers.
“While we are disappointed that this initial ruling in our fight for collective bargaining justice was not in our favor, we knew from the day we filed this lawsuit, right after HF291 was signed, that this case would likely end up in the Iowa Supreme Court. We are exploring the next step in the legal process, including an appeal. As proven by last week’s recertification victories, we’re not going anywhere. We’re in this for the long haul and look forward to the day that this unconstitutional law is overturned for Iowa’s public employees.”
HF 291 was signed by Governor Branstad with the full support of soon-to-be Governor Reynolds on Friday, February 17, 2017, less than 24 hours after it passed the House and Senate. Representative Sharon Steckman said from Des Moines immediately after the bill was passed that “all amendments by the Democrats … were voted down including two of mine; one on adding supplemental pay back in bargaining and the other to do an impact statement for women. The collective bargaining has officially been gutted.”
The American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Council 61 represents 40,000 public employees in Iowa including law enforcement and correctional officers, firefighters, mental health workers, professional school staff, emergency responders, and many other workers. AFSCME Council 61 also represents home health care and child care providers across the state and private sector workers at Prairie Meadows, Palmer College of Chiropractic, Des Moines University, and ABM (Marshalltown).
