DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa's Supreme Court on Friday narrowly upheld a 2017 law that took away bargaining rights for many state employees, an early signal of the court's new conservative...

CHICAGO (AP) — Nine state workers who are no longer members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees are seeking the return of some the fees paid the union.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Latest on a one-day strike by University of California research and technical workers (all times local):

DETROIT (AP) — A labor leader who liked to gamble at a Detroit casino was sentenced Thursday to 30 months in federal prison for embezzling $300,000 from his union.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker says state employees will be placed on the correct step of the state pay plan on April 1.

The reinstatement of long-postponed, experience-based salary increases is expected to affect about 20,000 state workers represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — An Illinois appellate court has ruled that a state labor board erred when it declared that Gov. Bruce Rauner's negotiations with a state labor union were at a standstill.

The ruling Tuesday by the Fourth District Appellate Court sends the issue back to the Illinois State Labor Relations Board.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner's administration says it needs up to two more months to produce a plan to provide three years' back pay to union workers.

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said Thursday the state reached a four-year, $34 million labor agreement with a public worker union that represents about 6,500 workers.

Murphy announced the deal with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees New Jersey Council 63 in a statement while he was in Boston for the same union's international convention.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — The Illinois Labor Relations Board is moving forward with certain salary increases for unionized state workers.

About 15,000 union members are eligible for the step increases, which are automatic raises workers receive sometime during the first decade of their careers.

DETROIT (AP) — A man who was a union leader in Detroit has been charged with embezzling more than $600,000.

Mervin Hawk appeared in federal court Monday and asked for a court-appointed lawyer. Federal investigators say he diverted union dues from AFSCME Local 1640 into secret bank accounts or his own personal account over a two-year period.

Hawk was president of Local 1640 from 2013 through 2015. AFSCME stands for American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — The Fifth District Appellate Court in Mount Vernon has ruled that Gov. Bruce Rauner's administration should be paying unionized state workers scheduled increases promised by contract.

Monday's opinion overturns an Illinois Labor Relations Board decision.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A judge has dismissed a lawsuit by one of Iowa's largest public workers unions that challenged the state's new collective bargaining law.

MT. CLEMENS, Mich. (AP) — A judge has granted a temporary restraining order forbidding Macomb County Clerk Karen Spranger from "harassing" or retaliating against employees engaged in union activities.

The Detroit Free Press reports that Circuit Judge Matthew Switalski issued the order after a brief hearing Friday.

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — Striking government employees in Lane County are going to back to work after a walkout that lasted more than a week.

The county says it reached a contract agreement with nearly 700 workers represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

The agreement must be ratified by union members and the Lane County Board of Commissioners before taking effect, but the workers in Eugene area returned to their jobs Wednesday.

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — More than 500 workers represented by Lane County government's largest labor union have gone on strike.

The Register-Guard reports striking American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees formed picket lines outside county buildings Wednesday morning, as the county and union remain far apart on contract terms.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Illinois officials are cutting costs by putting violent prisoners in less-secure prisons, a driver behind a 51 percent increase in inmate assaults over two years, a state employee union said Thursday.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31 asserted that Gov. Bruce Rauner's campaign to reduce the prison population has meant an 18 percent drop in maximum-security prison populations.

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — Lane County and its largest employee union remain far apart on a new labor contract.

The Register-Guard reports (https://is.gd/jkfzCL ) that the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees voted last week to authorize a strike, calling foul on the county's proposed wage formula and its demand that employees start paying $20 to $70 per month toward their health insurance plans.

RUTLAND, Vt. (AP) — Officials say the former mayor of Rutland, Vermont is now working for a union that represents public employees.

Jim Durkin, representative for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, tells The Rutland Herald (http://bit.ly/2x2n7jq ) Christopher Louras is working as a staff representative for the union.

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (AP) — A union has filed a grievance in response to Western Michigan University's hiring of goats to clear 15 acres (6.07 hectares) of woodland on campus.

DECATUR, Ill. (AP) — New employees hired by the city of Decatur will be required to live within the city limits for at least five years.

The Herald and Review reports (http://bit.ly/2rS1pya ) the residency requirement was part of a new labor contract the city council approved Monday.

It applies to newly hired employees represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31 and Local 268.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The state of Iowa has spent $55,000 so far defending itself against a lawsuit challenging a new collective bargaining law.

An invoice reviewed this week by a state council shows the Belin McCormick law firm in Des Moines charged the amount on behalf of four lawyers and a paralegal. They worked more than 175 hours between Feb. 20 and March 30 on a lawsuit filed by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Iowa Council 61.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — The Illinois Supreme Court has declined a request to bypass a lower court and immediately take up Gov. Bruce Rauner's case for imposing pay and working conditions on members of the state's largest public employees' union.

The Republican and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees state council received notice Tuesday that the court wouldn't accept a direct appeal over the validity of a state labor ruling.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Gov. Bruce Rauner has taken his confrontation with the state's largest public-employee union to the Supreme Court.

The Republican announced Friday that his office has asked the high court to uphold a labor board ruling in his favor. That ruling last fall allowed Rauner to impose his preferred contract conditions on 38,000 members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — It's unclear whether people who might replace state employees in the event of a strike by Illinois' largest public-employee union could end up with permanent jobs.

Gov. Bruce Rauner's administration has begun to collect names of people willing to work if the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees strikes, suggesting online that replacement positions could turn into permanent jobs, The State Journal-Register (http://bit.ly/2nbiFKd) reported.

REDFIELD, S.D. (AP) — Workers at the South Dakota Developmental Center in Redfield have voted to unionize.

The American News reports (http://bit.ly/2n9ZIaH ) that 88 of the 91 direct support professionals who were eligible to vote favored joining the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. They say it's an effort to improve safety for both clients and staff.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — An Illinois appellate court has temporarily barred Gov. Bruce Rauner from imposing his contract terms on the state's largest public employee union.

The 4th District Court of Appeals sided with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31 on Friday. The court issued an order prohibiting immediate action by the Republican governor.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Gov. Bruce Rauner's administration said Tuesday it has made it simpler to round up temporary workers in case the state's major public-employee union strikes, a move the union derided as illegal intimidation.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Tens of thousands of state government workers have sanctioned a strike against Gov. Bruce Rauner and his contract terms, union officials said Thursday, kicking a two-year dispute into an unprecedented higher gear.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa's top attorney wants an outside lawyer to defend a new law that eliminates most collective bargaining rights for public sector workers, saying in a letter released Tuesday that he wants to avoid a potential conflict of interest.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A new Iowa law that eliminates most collective bargaining rights for public workers is unconstitutional and should be immediately blocked, according to a lawsuit filed Monday by a key union in the state.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Members of Illinois' largest public-employee union are voting on whether to authorize a strike as contract talks with Gov. Bruce Rauner's administration remain stalled.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31 vote is being held from Monday through Feb. 19.

The vote doesn't guarantee a strike, but will indicate whether union members want to give their bargaining committee power to walk off the job.