Republicans have proposed HSB 84 and SF 213, and labeled it “A bill to modernize collective bargaining.” The proposed changes will not modernize the law, nor is modernization the real reason for changing this law.

Collective bargaining or Chapter 20 was put into place in 1975. Although these changes would not bring the law to a pre-collective bargain status, it would get Chapter 20 closer to that status. Republican lawmakers want to eliminate as much of the law as possible without cutting section 12, the no-strike clause.

Why such drastic changes?

To silence the supposed opposition. Republicans want to legislate a hurt on their opponents — teachers and public employee unions. They use the following arguments to prop up an unwarranted attack.

They argue bargaining isn’t a local process. I am one of a team of teachers, living and working in Marshalltown, that bargains our contract with the school district’s administration, and school board. The school board are your locally elected officials. It is a local process is local

They argue it is a difficult and long process to remove poor performing employees. It takes a year to remove a teacher. The process involves teacher leaders and building principals. I have been involved in this process as a teacher leader and teacher advocate. The outcome sometimes is the removal of a teacher and sometimes the teacher improves practice. Either way the district improves. I, like other teachers, want to work with the best team possible.

They argue there should be an annual vote to certify the local union. But Iowa is already a right to work state. Teachers and other public employees don’t have to belong to a union to gain the benefits of contract language and salary. 80 percent of teachers in the Marshalltown district do belong to the teacher’s union. What goes unsaid is that a vote would need to be certified by the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) costing taxpayers money.

Republicans seek to take away locally negotiated insurance plans. They have talked about creating of a statewide insurance program for teachers and public employees — a Branstad-care. This would take further legislation that has not been proposed. This takes control from districts and school boards to negotiate their own insurance plans.

In an effort to battle presumed political opponents, Republicans want to mess with the livelihood of 34,000 teachers and tens of thousands of public employees. That is not leadership that is retaliation.