Workplace conditions at the Iowa Capitol may expose workers to COVID-19 hazards, according to a letter the Iowa Occupational Safety and Health Administration sent to legislative leaders last week.
While Iowa OSHA found those COVID-19 concerns do not constitute a violation of Iowa code, OSHA administrator Russell Perry urged legislative leaders in the letter to please facilitate immediate corrective actions where needed.
The agency also issued citations for one serious violation and four other-than-serious violations related to other hazards at the building. Those violations carry more than $10,000 in fines.
Labor leaders, who had filed the initial complaint with OSHA in January, pointed to the letter on Monday as evidence that the conditions at the Capitol are not safe.
Iowa Capitol conditions may expose workers to COVID-19 hazards, OSHA says Ian Richardson and Stephen Gruber-Miller, Des Moines Register
Gov. Reynolds, again, asks Iowans to get vaccinated for COVID-19
Replay Video UP NEXT
Workplace conditions at the Iowa Capitol may expose workers to COVID-19 hazards, according to a letter the Iowa Occupational Safety and Health Administration sent to legislative leaders last week.
While Iowa OSHA found those COVID-19 concerns do not constitute a violation of Iowa code, OSHA administrator Russell Perry urged legislative leaders in the letter to please facilitate immediate corrective actions where needed.
The agency also issued citations for one serious violation and four other-than-serious violations related to other hazards at the building. Those violations carry more than $10,000 in fines.
Union and industry representatives are at odds about how a proposal to cut unemployment benefits could impact Iowa s broader economy.
The Republican-led Iowa House Labor Committee approved the legislation just after midnight Tuesday, following a contentious 5½-hour hearing. Republicans say the measure will allow businesses to pay lower taxes and hire more workers.
Reacting later Tuesday, union and labor federation members said decreasing payments to laid-off workers will hurt Iowa communities.
They argued that claimants will barely be able to their pay their bills and won t have money to spend at local restaurants or other shops. This legislation is hurting people, and it s an attack on our local economy, Scott Punteney, president of the Western Iowa Labor Federation, said during a news conference on the bill. The money that people get from unemployment, they re not putting (it) in the bank and waiting. They re spending it immediately on things they need: food, clot
Radio Iowa
You are here: Home
Lawmakers proposed reductions in Iowa unemployment benefits
Republicans in the legislature are considering changes they say will ensure the taxes businesses pay into the state’s unemployment trust fund don’t go up.
The bill would impose a one-week waiting period before workers would be eligible to receive unemployment.
During a news conference organized by the Iowa Federation of Labor, Kelli Harrison, a UAW member from Marshalltown, said Iowa manufacturing plants are notorious for short-term layoffs.
“Do we really want to go after these workers? Do we want to take a week’s worth of pay because they were laid off through no fault of their own during a time when unemployment funds are not depleted?” she asked.
Saying Iowa Capitol is unsafe, labor groups file workplace complaint against House, Senate leaders Ian Richardson and Tyler Jett, Des Moines Register
What will the Iowa Legislature focus on in 2021?
Replay Video UP NEXT
Several Iowa labor groups filed a complaint with the Iowa Occupational Safety and Health Administration against Senate and House leaders Thursday, alleging they created an unsafe environment at the Capitol.
The leaders of five Iowa labor federations and two unions, including one that represents Capitol workers, said Republican leadership at the Capitol isn t taking adequate safety precautions, such as requiring masks in the building or requiring people to self-report positive tests.