Remarks Prepared for Delivery at the Public Hearing in the Iowa House on HF2420

DES MOINES, IA (02/17/2010)(readMedia)-- Iowa State Education Association President Chris Bern will deliver the following remarks at a public hearing concerning public employee collective bargaining at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 17 at the House Chamber:

Thank you, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Iowa Legislature for the opportunity to address you on House File 2420.

My name is Chris Bern and I am here in my capacity as President of the Iowa State Education Association representing 34,000 education professional union members working in Iowa's public schools, area education agencies and community colleges.

First, I'd like to commend you for moving ahead on the concept of "reasonable reimbursement". ISEA members work hard to make sure all public education employees have competitive salaries, reasonable benefits, good working conditions, and that the collective bargaining agreement is applied fairly to all.

While ISEA members bargain the Master Contract they are also bargaining these services for non-members as well. Some call it a subsidy to provide non-members a contract which includes a good salary and benefits when they do nothing to earn it.

Others argue that Fair Share would gut Iowa's Right to Work statutes. Not so. Right to Work simply says that a union or employer cannot force workers to belong to a union as a condition of their employment. We are not forcing anyone to belong to our union. We are simply asking for compensation for work done on their behalf. So long as the ISEA or any union bargains the contract for everyone else, don't you think it is reasonable that those who are getting a free ride from our services should pay a small fee in exchange?

It is time to allow reasonable reimbursement in Iowa for all public sector employees. We have never shirked our responsibility to represent everyone at the bargaining table and never in our democracy have we allowed people to opt out of participation. Just because the candidate I supported didn't win, doesn't mean I get to stop paying taxes or ignore laws. The same applies to a collective bargaining agreement. You get the contract so you've got to pay for your share.

The weakness of the current legislation is not the concept of reasonable reimbursement but that it is narrowly limited to executive branch state employees. The logic and rational behind reasonable reimbursement is sound and should be applied to all public sector employees. I ask you to amend the legislation to include all public sector employees so that a good idea can be a great piece of legislation.

Thank you for your time and consideration.