Jen Pellant is president and field coordinator of the Western Iowa Labor Federation. This essay is slightly adapted from a speech she gave at a February 26 rally at the state capitol. Photo of Jen Pellant speaking at that event is by Al Womble, political director of the Iowa Federation of Labor.

This year’s Iowa legislative session has brought us yet another attack on Chapter 20 of the Public Employee Relations Act of 1974. Once again, extreme Republican lawmakers are attempting to roll back labor protections for public employees by making it easier for employers to de-certify their unions. These protections were originally forged by a bipartisan coalition of Iowa’s elected officials and led to more than 40 years of middle-class prosperity and good state/state employee relations in this state.

Yet here we are after the draconian cuts to Chapter 20 that occurred in 2017, and apparently it wasn’t enough to kill off public sector unions. Iowa’s public employees are tired of losing ground and attempting to defend what’s left. It’s time to go back to the beginning and look at the bigger picture. That’s why I stood in the capitol rotunda last week and talked about the grandaddy of all union-busting laws: so-called “Right to Work” legislation, and why it’s time for Iowa to repeal it.  

“Right to Work” has been in Iowa Code since 1947. And like many bad legislative ideas, it did not originate in Iowa. It was the brainchild of folks in the segregated South, who didn’t like that unions were bringing together people of every race, color, and creed to fight for the dignity of workers and the chance at a middle-class life.

So they came up with this cleverly-named law, which has an insidious purpose: to keep workers divided, struggling, and in poverty. Some of our most revered and famous civil rights activists immediately saw it for what it was. In fact, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said of Right-to-Work legislation: “It’s purpose is to destroy labor unions. In our glorious fight for civil rights, we must guard against being fooled by false slogans, such as ‘right to work.’ It is a law to rob us of our civil rights and job rights.”

It is a law to rob us of our civil rights and job rights—and it’s been robbing Iowans for 76 years. This law does nothing for Iowans’ “right to work.” On the contrary, it’s about a corporation’s right to work their employees for lower wages, fewer benefits, and with no regard for their health or safety.

How do we know it’s a right to work for less? Because wages in “Right to Work” states are about 3.1 percent lower than in free-bargaining states.

How do we know it is a right to work unhealthy? Because the data shows that the rates of insured workers are about 6 percent higher in free-bargaining states.

How do we know it’s a right to work dangerously? Because the Bureau of Labor Statistics has shown that workers in “Right to Work” states like Iowa have a 54 percent higher rate of workplace fatalities than workers in free-bargaining states.

The data is clear about where this nonsense takes a state. Rates of poverty, infant mortality, unemployment, uninsured folks, and workplace deaths are all higher in “Right to Work” states. Public education funding, wages, and median household incomes are all lower.

Now is the time to finally break free of this 76-year-old relic of the past. More than 70 percent of Americans approve of unions and the work we’re doing, but only 6 percent of Iowans have the opportunity to work a good union job here. Why? Because of union-busting legislation like our so-called “Right to Work” law.

It doesn’t have to be like this. We can do better.

Michigan enacted “Right to Work” in 2012. And after only ten years of it, they lost 40,000 union members. Wages throughout the state stagnated. So in 2022, Michigan workers decided they had seen enough. They flipped their legislature and repealed Right to Work for the working families in their state.

On February 22, the Republican-controlled New Hampshire legislature decisively voted down a new “Right to Work” law in their state. Why? Because they see it for what it is. A bridge to nowhere, a race to the bottom, a war on workers.

If another state with a Republican trifecta can see that, then this is not partisan issue. It’s an economic one. It’s a systemic one. The lives of workers are simply better in states where they are free to bargain for good wages and benefits. Economies and families are stronger. Everyone benefits.

If Michigan and New Hampshire can turn the page on “Right to Work,” so can we. Despite the clever name, it’s not a “right” for workers at all. It’s a sham. It’s a relic. It’s wrong for Iowa workers, and it’s time for it to go. Real freedom for working Iowans would mean having the freedom to choose unions without government interference on the side of corporations. Repeal “Right to Work.”