Court: Prison workers can't wear pins opposing Iowa Gov. Branstad
This came in today.
An appeals court is backing a policy that bars union prison workers from wearing pins opposing Republican Gov. Terry Branstad while on duty.
The court today upheld the ban on anti-Branstad pins distributed by the state's largest employees' union, AFSCME.
The three-judge panel sided with a lower court and the Public Employment Relations Board, agreeing that "special circumstances" justified the ban.
The pins depict a red slash going through a photograph of Branstad and the words "1991 or 2011" and "NOTHING HAS CHANGED." They were issued to protest his 2011 veto that closed unemployment offices and his 1991 battle over union wages.
Yeah I oppose Gov. Brainfart and probably 90% of what he says and does. I hope this is his last term in office. He's a freaking embarrassment as Governor. But I agree with the DOC here - in a prison environment the politics should be left at the gate because of the potential for inmate problems.
