John Deere Strike Inspires Bill To Help Iowa Workers

Workers go on strikes for a variety of reasons, some want better wages, others are looking to improve working conditions, and we also have people looking to get improved benefits. Whatever reason people choose to go on strike, corporations sometimes strike back by canceling or threatening workers health insurance.

This week, Iowa Congresswomen Cindy Axne announced a bill she is co-sponsoring that would prohibit companies from making these threats.

In a report from Radio Iowa, Axne says

I think across this country we've seen too many places where Americans are under threat of losing their health care because they're standing up for workers' rights.

Axne first learned about the insurance issue back in the fall when she walked the pickle line at the John Deere strike.

John Deere was only required to provide health care to striking workers the first ten days of the strike. This means that after October 27, 2021, the company did not have to provide healthcare- but they still chose to provide benefits to people on strike.

How can they do that to families? How can they do that to children, who need this? How can they do to pregnant mothers? How can they do that people who have cancer or some other disease?

John Deere choosing to continue to offer benefits is not a luxury everyone who goes in strike gets. In California, 140 union workers that have been on strike at a California barer lost company healthcare coverage January 1^st.

People across the country understand that it's not fair for workers who are still employed by those companies while they're on strike," because if you're still employed, you shouldn't be losing those benefits.