Today House Democrats filed House File 555, a bill that will gut Iowa’s more than 60 year old right-to-work law. As filed, the bill forces both public and private, non-union members to pay union dues as a condition of their employment.

“Here we go again: instead of finding ways to put Iowans back to work, rebuild our economy and protect taxpayers, Democrats are focused on forced unionism,” said House Republican Leader Kraig Paulsen (R-Hiawatha). “House Republicans object to any attempt to garnish wages of workers and will fight against any attempt to repeal right-to-work.”

If forced union dues are conservatively estimated to be about $500 per year then the unions stand to collect about $19.5 million for their political coffers if this legislation is enacted.

In 2007, in a Wall Street Journal editorial, the paper pointed out, “If the Iowa legislature wanted to chase jobs and employers out of the state, they couldn’t come up with a better plan than undermining right to work.” You can view that article here.

One Response to “Democrats File Bill to Gut Iowa’s Right-to-Work Law”

1. Chris says:

   March 6, 2009 at 2:23 pm

   I didn’t read anything that will gut the right-to-work law in the bill. Where does it gut it?