Republicans in the Iowa House have passed a bill that would change the collective bargaining process for teachers and other school employees. Under current law when there’s a stalemate in negotiations, an arbitrator is called in and must choose the final offer from either labor or from management. The bill would allow an arbitrator to reject both sides and choose some middle ground. Representative Greg Forristall (FOR-ih-stall), a Republican from Macedonia (mass-uh-DOH-nee-uh), says giving an arbitrator more freedom makes sense.
Republicans argue the current system stacks the deck against taxpayers and there should be no expectation that teachers get a raise every year. Union groups are staunchly opposed to the bill and it is unlikely to even be considered in the Democratically-led Iowa Senate. House Democratic Leader Mark Smith of Marshalltown.
That real issue, Smith says, is a reluctance among Republicans to forward more state support to Iowa’s public schools. Legislators are still squabbling over how much state aid will be spent in the school year that begins this fall, plus they have failed to resolve the dilemma over the actual date when school may start in August. The debate in the House on teacher contract negotiations lasted more than nine hours and stretched over two days…………….
