FORT MADISON – About 30 employees, AFSCME union employees, and a state senator rallied on the curb in downtown Fort Madison as part of a tour through Iowa’s prison communities Wednesday afternoon.
The group is executing informational pickets across the state in opposition to proposals to privatize healthcare at Department of Corrections facilities in Iowa.
The DOC employs about 300 healthcare staff who would have to reapply with the private firms and would stand to lose state benefits.
Todd Copley, president of AFSCME 61, the union representing the employees, said this is another bad idea by the state to save money over the hard, dangerous work of its employees.
“We’ve seen every time our legislature has tried to privatize anything it has absolutely blown up in the face of the governor, the Republicans in office, and unfortunately, the taxpayers. This is gonna happen. They tried in the late 80s and it was just a horrific mistake,” Copley said.
He told the group and several media outlets in attendance that the state and its current conservative leadership is valuing profit and greed over the hard work of state employees by calling it ”reform”.
“This isn’t reform. It’s reckless and the state employees across this state deserve better.”
Copley said the state has underfunded the DOC healthcare infrastructure, and, while the private system modernized, the state system fell behind.
“And now they want to hand it off to a private corporation in the name of efficiency. That’s not efficiency. That’s called abandonment.”
Charlie Wishman, president of Iowa Federation of Labor AFL-CIO, said this idea isn’t new or original. He said in 1996 prison healthcare was privatized in Fort Madison.
“What happened? Costs didn’t go down, care didn’t improve, accountability disappeared, and taxpayers were left holding the bag,” he said.
Wishman said privatizing corrections has never worked. He cited efforts in Florida, Mississippi, and Arizona where lawsuits have been filed around inadequate care.
“Once the foot is in the door for privatization, it gets bigger and bigger and bigger,” Wishman said.
State Sen. Jeff Reichman (Rep. 50th - Lee County) reiterated his position that he wasn't going to "armchair quarterback the DOC".
"The position was privatized before it went to an IPERS position, and now it is being looked at to see if privatization is a better route. This is a department initiative. We approve the budget and they operate the DOC," he wrote in a response to Pen City Current.
"I will reiterate my previous comments. I am not going to amrchair quarterback (DOC) initiatives."
He said a privatized position would likely create a higher wage and the staffer could then invest in their own retirement.
State Sen. Janice Weiner, (Dem. 45th – Johnson County) was also in attendance.
“We’ve seen what’s happened with the privatization of Medicare in the state. There’s always a middle man and somebody has to get a cut. We’ve had problems keeping companies and people aren’t getting the care they need,” Weiner said.
“That’s not what we need to do for prison healthcare. To me this looks like we’re being a penny wise and a pound foolish because if you invest in this and our public employees and public safety, we end up with a system that’s functioning.
Weiner also said the public health workers should have their bargaining rights restored because of the safety issues that are present in health care settings like this.
She referenced the Anamosa State Prison killings of 2021 where RN Lorena Schulte and C.O. Robert McFarland were killed by inmates Michael Dutchere and Thomas Woodard during an attempted prison escape.
Weiner said with Democrats in the minority, there is a hill to climb politically in stopping the effort.
“By talking to people. The people who work at these places are members of our communities and contributing members. They want to continue to do that and we need to get out and continue those conversations,” she said.
“We need to have balance in government. When whatever party is in power for a long period, they tend to forget who brought them there and they stop having those conversations.”
State Rep. Blaine Watkins (Rep-100th - Lee County) said he was following the proposal process closely.
"My priority is making sure the sytem runs smoothly and that quality care is provided in a way that makes good use of taxpayer dollars," he wrote in an email to Pen City Current.
"I want to see what comes out of the RFP process before making any final judgments, but I'll continue working to ensure accountability and that the needs of inmates, workers, and taxpayers are kept in mind."
Copley said Republicans, including Governor Kim Reynolds, are going to get the deal done.
“The governor is doing everything she can to do this in a dark alley and the taxpayers need to know about this. I’m not going to say ‘if’ but ‘when’ this goes south, the taxpayers are going to be on the hook for it,” he said.
He said his hope is to go throughout the state prison system communities and bring awareness to the situation at hand.
“We don’t know when they’re going to do all this yet anyway, so the concern is to get to all of these beforehand. We’d like to get to those communities in the next couple months,” Copley said.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here