More than 500 join Iowa labor rally

DES MOINES -- Labor union members and their supporters numbering in the thousands rallied at the Capitol Tuesday afternoon as the Iowa House prepared to move legislation that makes changes to the way the state bargains with unionized employees.

The crowd filled the top level of the Statehouse steps and shouted such chants as "What's disgusting? Union busting" and "What does democracy look like? This is what democracy looks like."

The gathering was smaller than the recent protests in Madison, Wis., where tens of thousands of union members have rallied for several days against legislation proposed by Republican Gov. Scott Walker.

Among the crowd on Tuesday was 60-year-old union electrician George Wells of Des Moines. He carried a sign that criticized Gov. Terry Branstad as a "double dipper" for collecting a state pension from his previous terms in office while collecting his state salary.

"This sign says it all," Wells said. "We brought about 50 people here from (the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers) Local 347 to get our point across."

Countering the union rally was a smaller group of self-identified tea party supporters. Numbering about a 100, they stayed toward the bottom of the Capitol steps and held up anti-union signs and yelled at the larger group of union supporters.

"I used to be a union member, but then I realized that the union leaders are just in it for themselves," said 34-year-old Al Bregar of Grinnel, a full-time student studying computer science. "These guys," Bregar said, nodding his head toward a group of labor supporters who were exiting a bus, "just don't get it. They don't."

- By Mike Wiser, Des Moines Bureau