'Fair share' scrambles Eggs & Issues discussion
By Russ Oechslin, Journal Correspondent | Posted: Monday, February 12, 2007
SPENCER, Iowa -- Friday's filing of what democrats are calling "fair share" legislation in the Iowa House brought heat to discussions at the first chamber of commerce-sponsored Eggs & Issues forum Saturday.
The house bill would change the state's 60-year-old right-to-work law to allow unions to force non-union members to pay for the benefits of collective bargaining.
Sen. David Johnson, R-Ocheyedan, opened by explaining he had "some real questions about the democrats' agenda to repeal the right to work law."
Although the lone democrat at the session, Sen. Jack Kibbie, Emmetsburg, strongly disagreed with that intent, fellow republican Rep. Mike May, of Spirit Lake, told more than 100 local residents assembled in the city council chambers, "the fair share law would gut the right-to-work law."
Royd Chambers, R-Sheldon, added the bill "filed by the democrats will be the major battle of the session. The republicans are going to stand in the way of this with business friendly legislation in the House."
Spencer High School teacher Frank Boever, who is not a member of the Iowa State Education Association, the union that represents the faculty in Spencer, but serves as a board member of the Professional Educators of Iowa, said "If I were to be forced into a fair share I would fight to give the fair share (money) to a private charity or try to teach in a private school."
Boever has taught in Spencer for 23 years and said he considers the issue one of religious freedom, with the ISEA and NEA pushing for things like compulsory sex education. "For me to be a strong Christian, you cannot support the abuse going on with abortion or the gay and lesbian caucus" in the organizations. I don't mind paying money into the local association. But when I have to pay into the state and national organizations, I cannot support their agendas."
Another Spencer teacher, Deb Kimbell, who works with students learning English as a second language, said she had been a member of the NEA until the group "endorsed just every democrat rather than looking at the candidates to choose the best one."
Kimbell said she would like to support the local unit, but not be "forced to pay dues or lose my job. I don't want to pay dues going to the NEA."
With nearly 2,000 members, Boever's Professional Educators is the certified bargaining unit for one school district in the state, in Odebolt. The art teacher estimates that a little more than half of Spencer teachers are paid members of the ISEA.
Toward the end of the meeting, Webb, Iowa mayor Jerry Crew asked each legislator for a direct response to what he termed the "repeal of the right-to-work" bill. Kibbie insisted that he was "not going to vote to repeal Iowa's right-to-work law."
Kibbie likened the situation to "trying to catch a greased pig. I will vote to change part of (Iowa Code Section) 371 to include fair share legislation."
"We have a lot of good issues," Kibbie said after the 90-minute meeting went into overtime. "We're spending too much time on the fair share issue. This is not a repeal of the right-to-work law. We're just amending it."
Another school issue, the anti-bullying legislation, drew discussion with Johnson saying "until it protects all students, I cannot vote for it."
A former classroom teacher, May suggested that to be effective "we have to change the culture" not only in the classroom, but also in business and politics as well, to set an example. "This bill will not have an impact."
May called for political leaders to stop bullying each other. "I'd love to see that," with fines (for violating a code of conduct) going into a program to support something like "Character Counts," a classroom exercise promoted by former Iowa Gov. Robert Ray.
Chambers was the only one who voted against the minimum wage legislation that was a priority for Gov. Chet Culver. Chambers said he did not support the increase because of the impact on small businesses in the rural areas. "Small businesses will be cutting hours and raising prices," he said, adding "the impact will be pretty negative in rural areas."
Although he supported the increase, May noted it was "an inefficient way" to help low-income workers, because of the small number actually earning minimum wage.
The house bill would change the state's 60-year-old right-to-work law to allow unions to force non-union members to pay for the benefits of collective bargaining.
Sen. David Johnson, R-Ocheyedan, opened by explaining he had "some real questions about the democrats' agenda to repeal the right to work law."
Although the lone democrat at the session, Sen. Jack Kibbie, Emmetsburg, strongly disagreed with that intent, fellow republican Rep. Mike May, of Spirit Lake, told more than 100 local residents assembled in the city council chambers, "the fair share law would gut the right-to-work law."
Royd Chambers, R-Sheldon, added the bill "filed by the democrats will be the major battle of the session. The republicans are going to stand in the way of this with business friendly legislation in the House."
Spencer High School teacher Frank Boever, who is not a member of the Iowa State Education Association, the union that represents the faculty in Spencer, but serves as a board member of the Professional Educators of Iowa, said "If I were to be forced into a fair share I would fight to give the fair share (money) to a private charity or try to teach in a private school."
Boever has taught in Spencer for 23 years and said he considers the issue one of religious freedom, with the ISEA and NEA pushing for things like compulsory sex education. "For me to be a strong Christian, you cannot support the abuse going on with abortion or the gay and lesbian caucus" in the organizations. I don't mind paying money into the local association. But when I have to pay into the state and national organizations, I cannot support their agendas."
Another Spencer teacher, Deb Kimbell, who works with students learning English as a second language, said she had been a member of the NEA until the group "endorsed just every democrat rather than looking at the candidates to choose the best one."
Kimbell said she would like to support the local unit, but not be "forced to pay dues or lose my job. I don't want to pay dues going to the NEA."
With nearly 2,000 members, Boever's Professional Educators is the certified bargaining unit for one school district in the state, in Odebolt. The art teacher estimates that a little more than half of Spencer teachers are paid members of the ISEA.
Toward the end of the meeting, Webb, Iowa mayor Jerry Crew asked each legislator for a direct response to what he termed the "repeal of the right-to-work" bill. Kibbie insisted that he was "not going to vote to repeal Iowa's right-to-work law."
Kibbie likened the situation to "trying to catch a greased pig. I will vote to change part of (Iowa Code Section) 371 to include fair share legislation."
"We have a lot of good issues," Kibbie said after the 90-minute meeting went into overtime. "We're spending too much time on the fair share issue. This is not a repeal of the right-to-work law. We're just amending it."
Another school issue, the anti-bullying legislation, drew discussion with Johnson saying "until it protects all students, I cannot vote for it."
A former classroom teacher, May suggested that to be effective "we have to change the culture" not only in the classroom, but also in business and politics as well, to set an example. "This bill will not have an impact."
May called for political leaders to stop bullying each other. "I'd love to see that," with fines (for violating a code of conduct) going into a program to support something like "Character Counts," a classroom exercise promoted by former Iowa Gov. Robert Ray.
Chambers was the only one who voted against the minimum wage legislation that was a priority for Gov. Chet Culver. Chambers said he did not support the increase because of the impact on small businesses in the rural areas. "Small businesses will be cutting hours and raising prices," he said, adding "the impact will be pretty negative in rural areas."
Although he supported the increase, May noted it was "an inefficient way" to help low-income workers, because of the small number actually earning minimum wage.
Story Comments
Read More and Post Comments 5 comment(s)
Please note: The following are comments from readers. In no way do they represent the views of The Sioux City Journal or Lee Enterprises. We will not edit or alter your comments, but we do reserve the right to not post or to remove comments that violate our code of conduct. No comment may contain potentially libelous statements; obscene, explicit or racist language; personal attacks, insults or threats. Terms of Service
Jackman wrote on Feb 21, 2007 10:10 PM:
choice believer wrote on Feb 12, 2007 3:37 PM:
big D wrote on Feb 12, 2007 1:37 PM:
Freedom Fighter wrote on Feb 12, 2007 11:18 AM:
Chris wrote on Feb 12, 2007 8:17 AM: