Kelly v. State

HARRIS, Justice.

Public employees, nonunion members, brought this suit to challenge disparate pay increases, complaining because the increases in their pay were less than those obtained through arbitration and litigation by similar employees who were union members. We reject the challenge and reverse a contrary holding by the trial court.

In AFSCME v. State, 484 N.W.2d 390 (Iowa 1992), we held the General Assembly was contractually obligated to provide arbitrated wage increases — amounting to some ten percent over three years — -to state employees represented by a union. The General Assembly…