Worker-focused news from the Jan. 22 edition of the Iowa Worker’s Almanac:
- $15 minimum wage on the table: Iowa House Democrats unveiled a sweeping agenda last week that includes raising Iowa’s minimum wage to $15 per hour, establishing mandatory paid family leave, freezing utility rates through 2030, and eliminating the state’s Education Savings Account program to fund health insurance subsidies. Read the details here.
- Grocery prices have spiked at their fastest pace in three years. The worst? Coffee (20%), beef (16%), and candy (10%).
- Union endorsements: Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers Local 3 of Marshalltown endorsed Sen. Zach Wahls for US Senate this week. “Zach Wahls has been in our corner every time it counts—standing up for collective bargaining, fair wages, and safe job sites, and listening to what our members are facing on the job and at the kitchen table,” said Ray Lemke, President of BAC Local 3. “Our members are proud to stand with Zach because we know he’ll fight like hell to lower costs and make sure Iowa’s economy finally works for the people who build this state.”
- More rural hospitals closing: MercyOne announced last week it will close its Ottumwa Family and Internal Medicine Clinic on Feb. 27—and, apparently, workers only found out just before the public announcement. Pella Regional Medical Clinic in Ottumwa separately reduced its family practice operations starting last week, citing challenges in getting and keeping health care providers. “The privatization of Medicaid has only made things worse, burdening our health care providers with more administrative costs and leading to higher costs for Iowans, and threatening rural hospitals,” candidate for governor Rob Sand said in a release. “As governor, I’ll work to reverse the privatization of Medicaid and protect our rural hospitals.”
- Tariffs hitting farmers hard: Ag businesses are traveling to DC, and farm industry groups are saying that per-acre tariff bailout money is not enough to help farmers climb out of debt and asking Congress to allocate more. “Our corn is selling 44 cents below the estimated cost of production,” said Aaron Lehman, president of the Iowa Farmers Union. “Soybeans, locally, they’re selling for $1.30 below … Farmers are losing money on every bushel that they grow.”
- Workers who aren’t farmers aren’t doing well either, according to the latest labor share statistics, which show how well workers are doing in wages compared to bosses. Lowest ever labor share, cool, cool.
- We’re in a Black recession, according to the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, which cited a rising Black unemployment rate because of deliberate policy choices—including the elimination of hundreds of thousands of federal jobs, cutting federal programs that increased Black workforce participation, and dismantling the Minority Business Development Agency.
- Wage garnishment plan delayed for student loans, the Department of Education announced, which “would have risked pushing nearly 9 million defaulted borrowers even further into debt,” said Aissa Canchola Bañez, policy director for the advocacy group Protect Borrowers.
- General strike against ICE: Nearly 100 labor unions and other organizations are supporting the call for a work stoppage across Minnesota on Friday, which also includes the call to not go to school or shop to protest ICE’s continued operations in the state as well as pressure companies currently staying silent about it. “We are facing a tsunami of hate from our own federal government,” said Abdikarim Khasim, a Minnesota rideshare driver. “We’re going to shut it down on the 23rd. We’re going to overcome this.” (ICE’s campaign of terror is likely the reason why the US has negative net migration for the first time in at least 50 years.)
- UAW backs Trump heckler who lost job: TJ Sabula, an autoworker in Michigan, called President Donald Trump a “pedophile protector” while Trump was touring the plant Sabula works at last week. The UAW, his union, backed him and his “freedom of speech,” but Sabula was later fired.
- Write your congress members: The Big Beautiful Bill eliminated tax on overtime—but only for some workers. There’s now a bipartisan bill in the House that would add railroad and airline workers, truck drivers, and more.
- Voting on a union: Forty full- and part-time drivers and monitors at Durham School Services in Urbandale voted on whether to unionize with Teamsters Local 90 last month; there is still no vote total posted to the NLRB website as of this writing.
Upcoming layoffs, Jan. 22-Feb. 20, 2026:
All information taken from Iowa Workforce Development’s WARN Act website. Read WARN Act and Iowa WARN Act criteria here.
- Wells Fargo in West Des Moines is laying off 14 workers by Friday, and 25 by Feb. 6. Read more here.
- 10 Roads Express/10 Roads Service in Carter Lake is closing and laying off 42 workers by Jan. 30.
- DRT in Carter Lake is closing and laying off 26 workers by Jan. 30.
- CRST Expedited in Cedar Rapids is laying off 30 workers by Feb. 1.
- Medtec/CQ Medical in Orange City is closing and laying off 33 workers by Feb. 6.
- Winnebago Industries in Charles City is closing and laying off its remaining 23 workers by Feb. 20.
