Gov.-elect Terry Branstad wants to reopen contract talks with Iowa's largest state employee union and is proposing a pay freeze just weeks after a tentative agreement was reached with outgoing-Gov. Chet Culver.
Branstad, in an interview with The Des Moines Register on Tuesday, is upset that Culver accepted the contract with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees without consulting him.
Branstad says it's "unprecedented" and he's "dumbfounded" that Culver did it.
The two-year contract gives workers a 2 percent raise on July1.
Branstad says President Barack Obama has asked federal employees to accept a freeze, and he wants the union to reopen negotiations and consider the same.
Union President Danny Homan declined to comment on Branstad's
remarks, saying he is not yet the governor.
