United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America v. Iowa Public Employment Relations Board and State of Iowa and Board of Regents

I. Introduction.

This case requires us to interpret recent amendments to the Public Employment Relations Act limiting the mandatory subjects of collective bargaining and the matters an arbitrator may consider if the dispute enters binding arbitration. Under the 2017 amendments, when a bargaining unit does not have at least thirty percent public safety employees, bargaining is limited to "base wages and other matters mutually agreed upon." 2017 Iowa Acts ch. 2, § 6 (codified at Iowa Code § 20.9 (1) (2018)). If such bargaining reaches impasse and the impasse persists, the dispute goes to binding…