In a potentially devastating blow for Iowa construction workers, including IBEW members, the Iowa state Legislature is likely to pass a bill that will slash the amount of time workers are eligible for unemployment benefits and delay the start of those benefits by one week.

Eligibility for unemployment assistance will end after 16 weeks, 10 weeks less than the current 26 weeks. Workers also will have to wait one week after being laid off before becoming eligible — often the most crucial period after losing a job.

Republicans control all levels of state government and the bill might pass along a party-line vote. Republican governor Kim Reynolds is expected to sign it, despite the protests of IBEW locals in the state and the Iowa AFL-CIO.

However, because of those protests, the bill could be amended and might not be as onerous if it reaches the governor's desk. IBEW members in Iowa are being asked to contact their local legislators to urge them to vote against the bill or work to make it fairer to working families.

As many members know, unemployment benefits are crucial because of the cyclical nature of the construction industry. Workers can earn good wages for weeks or even years but can see that end quickly — and for an extended period — if economic conditions change in their area.

"In the electrical construction industry, we don't always have advanced notice of unemployment," Des Moines Local 347 Business Manager Patrick Wells said. "That is just the industry we're in. That's why our [signatory contractors] pay a higher rate into the state unemployment compensation fund. They know we are expected to face periods of unemployment between projects during economic downturns."

The unemployment system is directly funded by employers, not from other state revenues. There's no indication the funds are suffering. Yet, it appears that Iowa officials want to force people into jobs in which wages and benefits remain low.

That is what Wells and others in the state find particularly galling.

"They [the Republican legislators] don't care if you are in a skilled trade and you'll probably get called back to work after the winter," said Rich Kurtenbach, membership development director for Waterloo Local 288. "They want people pushed into these lower wage jobs. That's what this is all about."

Fortunately, like many areas of the country, Iowa construction members are near full employment now. Work is steady throughout the state.

But Wells and Kurtenbach each can list several times throughout their careers when that wasn't the case. It can happen quickly and last for a long time. See the economic crises that began in 2008, for instance.

"We had people out of work for over a year during that recession," Wells said. "I was out for several months. I just know how painful this is going to be for hardworking Iowans the next time we face a period of massive unemployment."

Kurtenbach remembers a particularly brutal time early in his four-decade career.

"If I look at what we experienced in the early 1980s, this is going to devastate people," he said. "This is doing away with the safety net."

Wells testified against the bill before a Senate subcommittee, telling legislators that "the businesses that are hiring these people that are forced to take work at a lower wage have no idea what they're in store for because as soon as I have an opportunity to go back to work at my rate of pay, I'm going for it. I'm going to leave these people high and dry and that's not good for everyone."

He and Kurtenbach continue to rally support against the legislation, but they agree that it almost assuredly will pass. Reynolds is viewed as a rising star in the GOP — she gave its response to President Biden's State of the Union address — and is unlikely to do anything to disrupt that.

But they hope in the long run it highlights for members the importance of elections and the need to elect pro-worker candidates, regardless of political affiliation — something that remains vital across the country.

Iowa was once a swing state politically and has a strong history of labor activism, even though it has been a right-to-work state since 1947. Former Senator Tom Harkin was one of the most labor-friendly politicians in U.S. history and is an honorary IBEW member.

But the state has swung to the right during the last decade. The GOP has a 32-18 advantage in the state Senate and added six seats in the House in 2020, giving it a 59-41 advantage. The unemployment bill is just the latest attack on working families.

"The bottom line when talking to members is that elections have consequences," Kurtenbach said. "We need to make sure they are registered and that we're telling them to vote for people we can trust because they look out for us.

"I respect someone having a different opinion. But when it comes to our ability to represent our members when it comes to safety, working conditions and wages, there is a connection to how they vote."

According to a new report from the Economic Policy Institute, unions aren't just good for members and their paychecks. They're also good for communities as a whole, and even for democracy itself.

"Unions promote economic equality and build worker power, helping workers to win increases in pay, better benefits, and safer working conditions. But the benefits of unions extend far beyond the workplace," said Asha Banerjee, economic analyst at EPI and co-author of the report. "The data suggest that unions also give workers a voice in shaping their communities and political representation."

The study, released in December, documents the correlation between higher levels of unionization and a range of economic, personal and democratic well-being measures.

"In the same way unions give workers a voice at work, with a direct impact on wages and working conditions, the data suggest that unions also give workers a voice in shaping their communities. Where workers have this power, states have more equitable economic structures, social structures and democracies," the authors wrote.

In terms of income and economic protections, the authors found that the 17 U.S. states with the highest union densities have minimum wages that are on average 19% higher than the national average and 40% higher than those in low-union-density states. They also have median annual incomes that are $6,000 higher than the national average.

Regarding health and personal well-being outcomes, states with the highest union densities have an uninsured (those without health insurance) population that's 4.5 percentage points lower than that of low-union-density states. High-density states are also more likely to have passed paid sick leave laws as well as paid family and medical leave laws than states with lower union densities.

When it comes to democracy, the authors found that the 17 highest-union-density states have passed significantly fewer restrictive voting laws than the middle 17 states and the 17 lowest-union-density states. Over 70% of low-union-density states passed at least one voter suppression law between 2011 and 2019.

"Through long-standing advocacy and work to protect the right to vote, unions have linked voting rights to workers' rights," said Margaret Poydock, policy analyst and government affairs specialist at EPI and co-author of the report. "Unions play a key role in mobilizing workers to vote, helping to determine which political leaders are elected and what occupational backgrounds they come from."

Relatedly, a study from MIT showed that increasing the minimum wage raises voter turnout.

"We found that people who get a raise because the minimum wage goes up become slightly more likely to vote in the next election," said Ariel White, an associate professor in MIT's Department of Political Science and co-author of a paper on the findings. "Those people, who are low-income, [become] represented a little better in elections than they typically are, because people with low incomes tend to vote less."

The EPI authors noted that the relationship between high union density and higher household incomes, access to health care and paid leave, and fewer voting restrictions also highlights the importance of passing the Protecting the Right to Organize, or PRO, Act. The bill, considered the most significant labor law reform in decades, includes a number of measures that would make it significantly easier to organize. It has the support of President Joe Biden and passed the House of Representatives last year but has stalled in the Senate.

"This study proves what union members have long known, that a stronger workforce translates into more worker power, and that's good for everyone, union or not," said International President Lonnie R. Stephenson. "It's yet another reason to get the PRO Act on President Biden's desk."