Thursday’s meeting between union and state leaders began the process of negotiating a contract for the state fiscal year that starts July 1.

“I believe it’s a reasonable proposal,” AFSCME Council 61 President Danny Homan said. “I believe that if the state is serious about wanting to recruit and retain their valuable employees, and recruit good people to come here, they better get serious with how they address worker issues.”

AFSCME represents nurses, corrections officers, university employees and transportation workers, among other public workers.

In February 2017, the Republican-controlled Iowa Legislature overhauled the state’s collective bargaining laws, stripping most elements for which public employees may bargain during contract negotiations. The law limits most public-sector union contract negotiations to base wages capped by the cost of living, while eliminating such issues as health insurance and supplemental pay as mandatory topics for discussion.

AFSCME and the state’s largest teachers union have filed lawsuits challenging the new law, saying it violates the Iowa Constitution by creating separate classes of public employees: some who retained most of their collective bargaining rights and others who lost most of them.

Those lawsuits are scheduled to come before the Iowa Supreme Court next week.