Gov. Chet Culver's chief of staff thinks there's "a legitimate chance" legislation will pass this year allowing public employee unions to charge nonunion employees for some expenses.
But he said he did not think it would apply to private employers.
The idea is among four that unions have pushed in the Legislature since Democrats took charge of the Statehouse in 2007. But they have failed amid strong resistance from the state's construction and business lobbyists.
It's an explosive issue for some state lawmakers and business leaders, who say they want to preserve Iowans' freedom to work without being forced to pay any money to a union.
Labor unions refer to their union-expenses proposal as "fair share," arguing that nonunion workers should have to pay their share for services that unions are required by law to provide. Opponents call that forced unionism.
"Fair share, I think, has a legitimate chance of success," chief of staff John Frew said in an interview with The Des Moines Register this week.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said no fair share proposal is on the table at the moment.
"If the governor is proposing a piece of legislation, we'll certainly keep an open mind, but we haven't seen anything yet," said McCarthy, D-Des Moines.
The 2010 session of the Legislature opens on Monday.
Frew said a pared-down version of fair share was the most likely to pass of the four labor union priorities.
The others are a so-called prevailing wage, a rate private companies would have to pay employees when working on government projects; allowing injured workers, instead of their employers, to choose the doctor who treats them; and an expanded list of topics that governments would be required to discuss with unions at the bargaining table.
"Whether one or all four of the pieces of the labor legislation will see the light of day is a big question," Frew said. "But fair share is one that we expect to see some significant traction."
Frew said Culver is not dictating the bill's provisions and suggested they depend on what House Democrats will accept.
"We would anticipate that this would be a narrow application of the concept and would only apply to the public sector," Frew said. "I haven't heard anyone suggest that it would involve the private sector."
The Senate passed a bill in 2007 that would have allowed government unions to assess nonunion workers a fee for services they provide, but the proposal failed to advance in the House.
Senate Democratic Leader Mike Gronstal of Council Bluffs said the concept still "has a pretty fair shot in the Senate," but consensus is less certain in the House.
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Des Moines Register
Jennifer Jacobs and Thomas Beaumont
Contact your leaders today and let them know you do not want 'fair share'!
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