Dan Gosa, a third-generation member of the International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Local 81 and current Iowa House Representative, joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast to make a case for why more union members should run for office and why he is seeking another term.
In a wide-ranging conversation with host Ed “Flash” Ferenc, Gosa described his path from the AFL-CIO’s NextUp Young Worker Program to local school board service and then to the state legislature. He argued that Iowa’s working families are being squeezed by rising costs while policy debates drift toward partisan theater. His focus, he said, is to pull politics back to “kitchen table issues” like unemployment benefits, wages, responsible contracting and the real-world effects of tax decisions on local services.
When introducing himself, Gosa made his point clear: union members in elected office can be a direct line to “real change for workers.” Gosa’s story is built on that premise.
Gosa told listeners he is a third-generation mechanical insulator out of Local 81 in Davenport, Iowa. His grandfather and father worked in the trade. His son, he said, chose a different path, entering the Iron Workers Union, where he is a second-year apprentice.
That multi-generation union background shaped how Gosa talked about work. He described the building trades reality that outsiders often misunderstand: careers built on “temporary jobs.” In construction, he said, a worker may move from contractor to contractor, project to project, sometimes working for 10 different employers in a year.
For Gosa, that is not instability. It is the industry's structure. It is also why labor standards, benefits and enforcement matter.
Gosa credited the AFL-CIO’s NextUp program with helping him get engaged early. He said the program, championed by current AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler when she was Secretary-Treasurer, helped bring young workers into leadership and civic participation.
From there, he said, mentors encouraged him to run for public office.
He served on a school board for 9 years. The motivation was personal and political. Gosa and his wife have four children in school. He wanted a say in decisions affecting his kids.
But it was there he noticed a structural issue, something that impacts public projects and union jobs: lowest-bid contracting requirements. Gosa argued that Iowa’s laws can force public entities to accept the lowest bid without defining what “responsible” truly means.
That concern—how public dollars can reward bad practices—became a bridge from local governance to state policy.
Gosa described the pressure on Iowa working families in plain language: eggs are expensive, milk is expensive, and the “ramen noodles and macaroni and cheese” phase many families associate with starting out is showing up again decades later.
He said he is grateful for a good union job but worries about young workers trying to start their lives in today’s economy. His advice to his son was blunt: live at home as long as possible and save.
The political takeaway was not partisan. It was practical. Gosa said voters are tired of extremes and want elected officials who will “do the right thing” and work across the aisle.
Gosa is not only a legislator. He also serves as President of the Quad City Federation of Labor and the Great River Area Labor Federation.
These roles require working with candidates from both parties during interviews and endorsements. It also requires translating labor issues into real-life terms that non-union voters and elected officials can understand.
Gosa offered a candid observation: “Many people do not pay attention unless something directly affects them.” His approach is to explain policy through lived experience.
He also described a reality of statehouse politics: bills can be introduced as “bait” to force floor speeches that can later be used in attack ads. He called it sad that people’s livelihoods have become political games.
Still, he argued that having union members inside caucuses and committees creates accountability. It becomes easier to identify who is offering lip service to labor to get money and manpower and who will actually deliver.
Gosa explained that Iowa reduced unemployment benefits from 26 weeks to 16 weeks. He also described a proposal affecting how claimants receive notices, including removing traditional mail options in favor of email.
Gosa warned that, in an era of spam and account security risks, changes to communication can lead to missed notices, lost benefits or even misdirected deposits.
He emphasized how these changes hit seasonal and weather-dependent work. In Iowa, he said, heavy highway workers can be laid off longer than 16 weeks due to winter conditions. He also referenced manufacturing layoffs, including those at John Deere, noting that even with contract provisions, layoffs create real hardship.
Gosa described ongoing work with at least one Republican colleague to develop a “responsible bidder dashboard” that local governments could use to track bad-actor contractors.
The target, he said, includes employers who misclassify workers or pay under the table. He framed it as a public accountability issue: when workers are paid cash and classifications are manipulated, it can distort insurance, evade taxes and undercut legitimate contractors.
Gosa also explained a practical political constraint: in Iowa’s current environment, as a Democrat, he often needs a Republican partner to advance a proposal far enough to be assigned to a committee and move through the process.
Gosa next discussed how property taxes fund essential services such as police, fire and rescue. When politicians push broad property tax cuts without explaining the tradeoffs, they are effectively cutting those services, he said.
He described telling Republican colleagues that cutting property taxes can, “in a roundabout way,” amount to defunding the police.
Gosa said his broader point was that state-level decisions often lack a “physical note” showing local impact. He said experience in the local office helps lawmakers understand the real consequences of their votes.
Gosa said he does not have a primary opponent. He does have a Republican opponent, a younger candidate.
Gosa’s larger discussion, threaded throughout the episode, was about representation. He said union members in office can bring the issues that matter to working families directly into caucus rooms, committee hearings and negotiations.
In Gosa’s words, the guiding principle is simple: never forget where you came from. For him, that means remembering the worker in the pipe rack in winter, the crew sweating through summer heat and the families trying to buy groceries and pay bills week to week.
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