DES MOINES, Iowa --- Across the country, Republican governors and lawmakers took aim at organized labor contracts this winter. Iowa's Gov. Terry Branstad was no exception.
Some, like Gov. Scott Walker in Wisconsin and Gov. John Kasich in Ohio, were able to push through reforms even as protesters marched on their respective statehouses. Others, like New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Florida Gov. Rick Scott are in the middle of fights with public unions.
Branstad's hopes of making changes to Chapter 20 - the section of state law governing collective bargaining - were dashed April 1. The Senate, which is controlled by Democrats, let a reform package approved by colleagues in the House die in committee.
Branstad says he will push for change, either as part of budget negotiations or through the goodwill of unions, until contracts take effect July 1.
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It is unlikely he will make much headway.
Democrat lawmakers stood with the unions, figuratively in stopping the Chapter 20 package, and literally by joining rallies on the Capitol steps and in the rotunda.
Still, when the Legislature adjourns, Branstad might come out better than some of his GOP peers. They were able to get reform measures enacted but now face legal challenges and potential recall referendums.
"It gives him a perfect target," said Steffen Schmidt, a political science professor at Iowa State University. "He can point to the Senate Democrats and say, ‘It's their fault.'"
And that is exactly what the governor has been doing.
"I lay the blame on the people who won't take it up for discussion. If the Senate refuses to debate the issue, I think it says they're afraid to give their members opportunity to vote on it," Branstad said. "I don't think anybody should deny - on an issue of this magnitude and importance - should deny people an opportunity to debate it."
Key components of the GOP-backed labor bill were:
Allowing arbitrators to look at public and private salaries when determining wages and benefits in union negotiations.
Providing a "free agency" provision, allowing a person to negotiate their own wages outside the union.
Mandating public employees pay at least $100 a month for health insurance.
Senate Democrats take the governor's criticism in stride. Sen. Pam Jochum of Dubuque, vice chairman of the Senate committee that killed the bill, said the majority of the senators felt existing rules for negotiations function well. They have been in place since the late 1970s.
"Why would you bring up something that you think is already working? It's like looking for a solution in search of a problem," she said.
Sen. Jeff Danielson, D-Cedar Falls, said he sees no reason to force a vote.
"I respect the process that is in place," he said.
About 300 union members rallied recently at the Capitol. The mood was much different than when they met last month in the Statehouse rotunda ahead of a public hearing on the labor bill. Back then, a feeling of uneasiness floated in the crowd, and speeches were all about stopping Chapter 20 reforms.
Monday's rally felt more like a victory party.
Danny Homan is president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 61, the largest public labor union in the state. He noted Wisconsin Gov. Walker is tied up in the courts and subject of a recall petition.
"Mr. Walker played his hand, and he got bit," Homan said.
Peter Orazem, an economics professor at Iowa State University, studies labor issues.
"Who would have thought that you would take on organized labor in the Midwest?" Orazem said. "In Wisconsin? In Ohio, home of Cleveland, Toledo and Akron?"
Orazem doesn't think Republicans overplayed their hands, but they might have underestimated resistance. He suspects Wisconsin and Ohio blew up much more than Iowa because those states had more generous benefits. Changes in those states seemed much more drastic, he added.
Still, Orazem thinks Republicans had momentum on their side, at least at the beginning.
"There was a lot of pent up frustration from taxpayers who saw their wages frozen and had layoffs in their private-sector jobs but were seeing guaranteed raises in the public sector paid for with their taxes," Orazem said.
Jochum said Republicans overreached.
"I think they did in many respects when they went after the middle class," she said.
Branstad said he will continue to talk about labor reform as he travels around the state. He is not sure, however, if the momentum is on his side or organized labor if the fight continues.
"I guess time will tell," he said. "I honestly think that what government is doing is unsustainable and unaffordable."
