The state of Iowa is challenging a ruling that it violated prison workers’ right to be heard on issues of personal safety and assaults on the staff committed by inmates.

In a petition filed last week in Polk County District Court, Attorney General Brenna Bird, representing the state, is arguing that state agencies are under no legal obligation to meet with their employees over workplace safety concerns.

The dispute stems from an event that took place in the fall of 2017, when Neil LeMaster and Todd Eaves, union representatives and correctional officers at Iowa State Penitentiary, attempted to speak to the then-warden, Patti Wachtendorf, about an increase in altercations with inmates and concerns for workers’ safety.

During a labor management meeting in September 2017, LeMaster and Eaves raised employees’ concerns about their workplace conditions. They later alleged Wachtendorf refused to answer their questions.

They also claimed that shortly after the meeting, Wachtendorf refused to meet with LeMaster in his capacity as union president and told him any concerns he had as an individual worker could be raised at the next staff meeting.

In October 2017, LeMaster sent Wachtendorf an email, indicating he and Eaves would like to meet with her “to discuss the health and safety of our staff.”

Wachtendorf sent back an email in which she stated, “I will meet with any staff; I’m very open about that. I will meet with you and Todd as officers/staff, not as union representatives. The...

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