Students attend a “Back to Bargaining Rally” outside of the Joe Rosenfield `25 Center on Feb. 28, 2024. Bargaining between the Union of Grinnell Student Dining Workers and the College resumed in February after nearly a year hiatus, leading to the historic contract that was approved on Thursday, April 4, 2024. (Zach Spindler-Krage, The Scarlet and Black)
This week’s working news you can use:
Ajai Long studied at Ottumwa Job Corps. She said the program was an important part of finding her independence and financial stability. (Photo courtesy Ajai Long)
Job Corps cuts hurt Iowa’s employment: Despite its success, Ottumwa Job Corps—which offers free education and vocational training for at-risk youth ages 16 to 24—is among the 99 programs the Trump Administration is shutting down. The closure eliminates over 100 jobs in small-town Iowa, and displaces the 240 at-risk youths served by the program, like Ajai Long (pictured above). “It will be an economic blow not just to the students but also to our community at large,” said Ottumwa Mayor Rick Johnson. A federal court did grant a preliminary injunction preventing the Department of Labor from shutting down Job Corps, but so far the Ottumwa closure is still on track. (Iowa Starting Line, Bloomberg Law, TTD)
Being an Iowa union member boasts tons of benefits—from discounts at local businesses to savings on cell phone plans. If you have a union member card, learn where and how you can save in Iowa here. (Iowa Starting Line)
Nurses have some great ideas and workarounds, and some thought those ideas should be shared with others. Since the University of Iowa’s Nurse Innovators Program got started in 2022, dozens of ideas have become projects, and a few have been patented, directly from nurses working in the field. (Iowa Capital Dispatch)
Small farmers feeling the tariff pinch: A fifth of farm revenue is generated by exports, and high tariffs have been impacting Iowa farmers and businesses like Cedar Ridge Distillery, farmers said at a recent forum on free trade in Swisher. (KMA LAND)
Extreme heat in Iowa? We might often hear more about workers dying of extreme heat in places like Texas, California, and the South. But there are places in Iowa that are vulnerable to extreme heat, too. (Federation of American Scientists)
Working on a union: Seventeen full- and part-time baristas and shift supervisors at a Starbucks in Des Moines filed a petition to unionize June 27 with Starbucks Workers United.
Voting on a union: Two hundred health care workers at two Southeast Iowa Regional Medical Center facilities in West Burlington are voting through today on whether to remain in their Communication Workers of America union. Fifteen carpenter craft employees and apprentices at Sioux City Engineering in Sioux City are voting July 14 on whether to be represented by North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters.
Upcoming layoffs:
Wells Fargo in West Des Moines is laying off 24 workers by July 14, 35 workers by Aug. 10, and 35 workers by Aug. 24.
Collins Aerospace is laying off 131 workers at two locations by July 18: 102 workers in Cedar Rapids and 29 workers in Decorah. Read more here.
Main Street Manor in Swea City is closing and laying off 13 workers by July 23.
American Contract Systems in Grimes is closing and laying off 62 workers by July 31. Read more here.
