LABOR

I saw a few “Free Kilmar” signs at the latest protest I covered this weekend, and for good reason: Folks are worried about what it means that the Trump administration is deporting people directly to a foreign torture prison with the flimsiest justification, and with no trial whatsoever. Kilmar Abrego Garcia came to this country at age 16 and is a SMART…

On Tuesday, news broke that 651 Iowans are soon to be laid off by June 1 from Whirlpool in Amana. That’s about a third of its workforce.

If Iowa employers can now fire our transgender and nonbinary coworkers simply for being trans and nonbinary, how can we protect them?

As Starbucks Workers United (SBWU) members representing more than 500 Starbucks stores nationwide prepare for mediation with their company—a huge step in their quest to begin bargaining a first contract—I spoke with workers at a Starbucks in Bettendorf who are getting ready for an election to possibly become the third unionized Starbucks in Iowa. Michael…

Unelected billionaire Elon Musk continues his unconstitutional steamrolling through the federal government under the guise of “efficiency” (with President Donald Trump’s blessing).

Remember the 14+ Seneca workers in Des Moines who left their jobs after their company switched the equipment they knew how to service, and then got sued by Seneca over their noncompete agreements? The company has now dropped lawsuits against at least two of those workers. Both lawsuits, against Seneca workers Darien Berg and Jeffrey…

It’s likely that Iowa, where agriculture is the largest part of our economy, where immigration accounts for the vast majority of the state’s growth, and where voters once again voted for Trump, could see these effects in a pronounced way.

Iowa started rolling back protections for child workers in 2023, and new child labor rules were published Wednesday to roll more protections back.

Another round of layoffs at John Deere is coming to Iowa.

Yesterday, the Iowa Farm Bureau actually quantified those losses for the state’s vast, 385,000-person agriculture workforce. And it’s not good.