- [Announcer] Wheelan Pressly Funeral Home & Crematory, a proud supporter of WQPT, has been serving Quad City families since 1889.

They now have livestream capabilities for viewing your loved one's funeral or memorial service.

- [Announcer] At IHMVCU, we've always been here for you.

You are, and always will be our top priority.

We care about your financial and physical health, and we are here.

IHMVCU is a proud supporter of WQPT.

- A strike at Deere.

What does it say about the state of the unions today?

And brace yourself for big energy bills this winter.

What can you expect when the temperature drops in the cities?

(upbeat inspirational rock music) We're being told to expect natural gas prices for your home to simply go through the roof.

In a moment, we'll find out why, and what you can do now to get through the big chill.

But first: Deere on strike.

The 10,000 UAW workers couldn't have said it louder than when they overwhelmingly rejected the negotiated settlement between Deere and union bargainers.

We haven't seen workers flex their muscles like this in the Quad Cities since 1986, the last Deere strike that happened in the depths of the farm crisis.

Times have changed, unions have changed, but has the importance of organized labor changed?

We talked with the president of the Quad City Federation of labor, AFL CIO, Dan Gosa.

Are you looking on with the Deere strike and going, "Yeah, it's about time that workers are really pushing back against companies"?

- Yeah, obviously everyone knows wages have been stagnant for awhile.

I mean, if you look out in Nebraska, you've got the striking Kellogg workers.

We just had the Machinists Union on strike with Kone for a few weeks, and they just were able to ratify their contract, so I'm thinking, in this day and age people are really understanding the worth of the workers, and CEO's pays keep going up, and the workers wages are staying the same.

- But really, it seems to me, and I'm sorry, Dan, but it really seems to be more than just wages.

I don't mean to diminish wages by any means, but it really does seem to be, once again, very important, healthcare, and for Deere employees, they don't like the staggered tiers of pay, but also it's the retirement benefits.

So some of these older workers are really worried about their futures.

Some of these younger workers don't really like this two-tier pay schedule.

- So the two-tier pay schedule, if I'm correct, I believe they took care of that their last contract negotiation.

This contract they're trying to do like a two-tier, I think it's a two or three-tier scale for their pensions, for their their retirements and stuff.

And one of the biggest things, companies, how you get people to come work for you?

You have a good benefit package, right?

And the same is with labor unions.

Obviously wages, but you want good benefits.

You want to be able to retire with dignity, and from my understanding, for the newer employees, they're not even wanting to offer them a pension.

It's like a 401k type deal, and not a defined contribution plan.

- Well, let's take a look of what happened a week ago, when the UAW members voted down by 90% rejection of a negotiated contract between the UAW bargainers and the company.

I mean, if you're gonna talk about solidarity, that really sent the strongest message possible, that such a lopsided vote occurred.

- Yeah, no, absolutely.

I mean, when you come back from the negotiation table, and you bring it to the membership, and obviously they showed they weren't happy with it with the 90 plus percent voting that down, and that really lets the company know kind of where the workers that are working in their facilities stand.

- You also know, I mean 'cause you're very active in local labor issues, that there's a lot of workers that believe that, "Wait a second, the bargainers aren't necessarily from here."

Or that upper union management doesn't really get it at the local scale.

I mean, do you hear that from your members as well?

- Ah, not so much.

I mean, you have local people from here that are, and I'm not gonna speak for the UAW's negotiating team, 'cause I don't know that person.

I do know one of the guys that is on that, that actually lives here locally and came out of one of the local unions here.

But usually for your negotiating team, obviously they represent a wide area.

And the negotiating team, they go through a lot of training and things like that to be able to negotiate contracts.

Obviously when you're representing, I think 10,000 plus members, that's a pretty good-sized contract to make sure you're crossin' your T's and dottin' all your I's.

- There you go (laughs).

Tell me a little bit about what it's like for a union member right now.

When you're first on strike, I would think you're very excited.

You want this deal, you want the company, you wanna make a statement, you wanna be on the picket line.

But come a couple of days, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 days, not necessarily getting a paycheck, and worried now.

I mean, you start strong at the beginning, but local members, they gotta feed families.

- Yeah, so usually how it goes, probably about after the first week they start, you know, "Hey, I didn't get a paycheck," and things like that.

There's a lot of initial adrenaline when you first go on, you know, the first couple of days you're on strike and things like that, and you see all the solidarity.

And I know through the Quad City Fed, we've had a lot of people reach out, and they're dropping off food, water and things like that, and I know local businesses are offering support, and I think even some of the banks are gonna offer to let the striking workers get deferments on their loans and things like that to help out.

And it's really nice to see the community come together, and rally around other people in the community, you know, the working class people.

- You have been a part of the labor movement for much of your life, but you've also seen memberships in unions falling and a lot of workers critical of even having to be a part of the union.

Is it getting better for union recruitment right now, and does a strike like this, I don't know, strengthen the membership's relationship with the union?

- Well, so that's a good question.

So I think the pandemic, going through that and a lot of people saw how they were treated by their companies, and they weren't giving them proper PPE and things like that.

Or just some of the working conditions they had to be put through, and then you see people that are represented by Collective Bargaining Agreements that are getting taken care of a little better because we have a CBA, Collective Bargaining Agreement, that has a lot of those things covered in there, that we're not getting mistreated and things like that.

So I think the general shift in society today, organized labor isn't as bad as what they've always thought.

I mean, we've been called union thugs and everything like that, but you know, we support the working class and we're a voice for the working class 'cause when our wages go up, so does everyone else.

We kind of pull everyone else along with us.

And we represent working families, that's our biggest thing, and kind of bring to light some of the inequities between the working-class folks and your CEOs and things like that.

- Contracts are negotiated all the time.

As you pointed out, Kone workers have settled, and everyone knew the Deere contract was coming to an end.

Are there other major contracts that are coming close to an end in the Quad City area?

What I'm saying is that, might there be other strikes locally?

- I really can't speak to that.

I believe the machinist's contract with John Deere is coming up.

I think it's sometime next week where they'll start contract negotiations as well, with their workers that they represent that work in some of the Deere facilities.

- Well, and I should point out you are AFL's CIO.

You're not UAW, so I mean, that's an important thing to underline, but do you think that perhaps this strike at Deere might be a template for other unions to get tough right now?

- Well, Jim, I mean, this is Striketober, so that's kinda what we're calling it, 'cause like I said earlier, you've got the Kellogg workers in Nebraska going, you got different things going on across the country.

Workers are finally, you know, understanding the disparities in the different facilities and things like that, and they're tired of it, and they're standing up to it, and trying to show, you know, "Hey, you need us, the same as we need you for a job, but you need us to make your bottom line and things like that and produce your products."

- Of course, unions are strongest in manufacturing plants, but you know very well that this pandemic has changed the way the workforce works.

So many people are working from home.

There are young people who don't wanna make a career at one company.

They go from company to company to company.

Does that weaken the organized labor movement in America?

- Well, as far as organized labor goes, I mean, our people are in the fields working.

I mean, organized labor is split between three different.

You have your public sector employees, you have your private sector, which would be like your UAW working in the facilities.

And then you have your building and construction tradespeople.

So as far as people working from home, not a lot of our people are doing that.

Maybe some of the public sector workers are.

But I think if anything, with this pandemic, I mean, it's been a terrible thing, but it's really shown people what they truly actually mean to the company and how they take care of them and things like that.

- What do you say to your brothers and sisters that are on the picket lines for the UAW at Deere?

- So what I say is, the Quad City Federation of Labor as a whole, we stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters on the UAW picket lines, and anything they need, we're there for them to readily assist and support, and we will be out on the picket lines with them.

I had just hit three of the picket lines this morning, where I was standing with the workers, so we are a hundred percent behind them and support them in any way, shape or form we can.

- Dan Gosa, president of the Quad City Federation of Labor, AFL CIO.

In a moment: Making sure you don't get caught in the coldest winter, but first, Laura Adams has ideas for you in the days ahead when you go out and about.

(funky electronic music) - [Announcer] This is "Out & About" for October 22nd through 28th.

"If These Walls Could Talk" is a tour through the Deere-Wiman House, taking place the 22nd through the 24th.

Or join a benefit for Tim Hayes & Family at the Lulac Club, the 23rd.

The Speakeasy presents the classic, "The Rocky Horror Show," while Tomfoolery On Tremont features Rachel Mac, the 24th, and the Stone Temple Pilots take the stage at The Rust Belt, the 23rd, at 7:00.

Celebrate Dia de los Muertos on the Figge Plaza, the 24th, from 12:00 to 3:00.

And Bettendorf's City Hall present a special Trick Or Treat, the 28th, from 9:30 to 11:00 AM.

Or visit Geneseo or for a Witch's Night Out, the 28th, from 4:00 to 7:00.

Bring the kids to celebrate Halloween for Fright Night at Schwiebert Park on the 28th, starting at 5:00.

Plus there's the Empower House's Spooktacular 5K and Festival, the 23rd at Quinlan court in Davenport.

Or join the fun at Snowstar in Andalusia for a Zombie Hayrack Hunt, the last two weekends in October.

Dress up your little ghosts for the annual Not So Scary Halloween Walk at the Quad City Botanical Center.

And enjoy these haunted houses: Factory Of Fear in Moline, the Haunted Forest in Port Byron, the QC Shock House at the QCCA Expo Center in Rock Island, and Terror at Skellington Manor in Rock Island.

For more information, visit wqpt.org.

(funky electronic music) - Thank you, Laura.

Last week, Quad City musician, Jenny Lynn Stacy, performed with other Quad City singers and songwriters in a benefit concert for QC Haven of Hope.

Performers are still giving back, even though many of them faced tough times during the pandemic, unable to perform their own music.

But they're back, and we caught up with Jenny Lynn Stacy performing some of her own original work on the stage of the Black Box Theater Moline before the pandemic broke out.

So here's Jenny Lynn Stacy, with, "I Prefer It."

(upbeat acoustic guitar) ♪ Hollow was my name ♪ ♪ My heart was much the some ♪ ♪ Thankfully my mind saw it out ♪ ♪ In time for a better day ♪ ♪ Poised between the takes ♪ ♪ Life will give me breaks ♪ ♪ Thankfully my heart sorted it out ♪ ♪ In time for a better day ♪ ♪ In time for a better day ♪ ♪ When you found me I was feeling cold ♪ ♪ Look what you do to me ♪ ♪ Hell, I do not know ♪ ♪ But I love you, I sing it all the time ♪ ♪ And I prefer it this way ♪ ♪ Oh I prefer it this way ♪ ♪ Oh I prefer it this way ♪ ♪ And I must be excused ♪ ♪ My mind's gonna lose it ♪ ♪ Regretfully I have gone off the trail ♪ ♪ In time for a better day ♪ ♪ In time for a better day ♪ ♪ When you found me I was feeling cold ♪ ♪ Look what you do to me ♪ ♪ Hell, I do not know ♪ ♪ But I love you, I say it all the time ♪ ♪ And I prefer it this way ♪ ♪ Don't you need me ♪ ♪ Is this all way too fast ♪ ♪ I'm not the easiest to love, hell I do know that ♪ ♪ But I dig you, I say it all the time ♪ ♪ And I prefer it this way ♪ ♪ Oh I prefer it this way ♪ ♪ Oh I prefer it this way ♪ - Jenny Lynn Stacy at The Black Box Theater Moline with "I prefer it."

The price for natural gas is about to explode.

MidAmerican Energy says prices could rise from 50% to 100% this winter.

So what's leading to this spike, and how can you best prepare for it?

We talked with Jeff Greenwood from MidAmerican Energy's offices in Des Moines.

So why is MidAmerican anticipating this large increase in natural gas prices?

- Well, we're anticipating it because it is the reality right now in the national natural gas market.

The natural gas market commodity prices have gone way up from this time last year.

In fact, last year they were the lowest they'd been in years, and now they're the highest they've been in years.

We're looking right now at approximately double what the market prices were at this time last year.

And so what we're seeing is a near term, at least, at least for the winter heating season, higher natural gas prices, and that's a cost that gets passed through to our customers without a markup.

- Now it's really kind of a case of supply and demand, is it not?

I mean, is there just too little out there, and then of course in the winter, the demand is higher?

- It is really a case of supply and demand, classic economics, but there are really a lot of factors in play here.

You know, let's go back to the height of the COVID crisis.

We had a lot of factories shut down, lots of things were shut down, and the demand was much lower.

Reserves were high, we had ample supply.

And now fast forward to this year.

Factories are back on again, demand is way up.

Our exports here in the US are record exports.

We had a hurricane in the Gulf that knocked out production for a while.

So you factor all of that in, and it has dramatically raised prices.

Now we don't expect any supply issues this home heating season, however we do expect high prices to continue for the next several months.

- Let's talk about that for a moment, because when you talked about pricing, MidAmerican says it really doesn't tack on much more above what you pay for the natural gas.

- Yeah, it's not that we don't tack on much more.

We don't tack on.

Our fixed prices, our rates, for example, our costs for administration, our costs for maintaining the infrastructure, making sure it's safe, and delivering natural gas, that doesn't change.

This is strictly a gas supply issue.

And the supply, the gas supply that we get and we deliver to our customers, is strictly a pass-through that is at no markup to our customers, so this is strictly due to the commodity prices.

Now there is a small factor in play here as well, and that is that for our Illinois and Iowa customers.

Remember back in February, market prices really spiked because we had a cold snap up here, and it also got really cold down in Texas.

It froze down there, and that froze up some production areas causing production problems and a huge market spike.

It went down eventually, but it went way up.

And we, as part of the payback period to avoid a huge spike the next month, normally we'll have a payback period of a few months over the winter months and into the summertime for February use, but because the prices spiked so high, we worked with state regulators in all of the states that we serve, and we're spreading that cost out.

So for Iowa, that cost runs through April, that payback period, and in Illinois, it runs through March.

Now again, that's a factor.

That is not the primary reason.

The primary reason here are the commodity prices that are so high right now.

- Was there anything learned yet from that spike and the terrible cold weather that they got in Texas?

'Cause I think at the time a lot of people all across the country were going, "Oh, that's Texas's problem."

It's proven that it wasn't just Texas's problem as far as the costs are concerned.

So, I mean, was there anything learned from that weather incident, I guess I'll call it?

- How much time do you have?

(Jim laughs) There are lots of lessons learned from that, but you're right, it wasn't just a Texas problem.

It was a problem that resonated throughout the Midwest and throughout the Plains states, and that's because there is a lot of production down there that comes up north through the pipelines and serves our customers here in the Midwest.

And so with those challenges, and because of that limited supply, it really spiked up those prices.

I think they've learned lots of lessons down in Texas and there are probably some more to go, but what's important here is that we were able to continue to supply our customers with gas.

There are lots of suppliers out there, there's not just one supplier, and we do have an interstate pipeline network so we were still able to serve our customers.

And we also purchase gas in advance through advanced purchase contracts, and that's in the warmer months when prices are lower.

And then we also store natural gas.

So we purchase gas that we store, and then we can use it in the winter heating season when we really need it when prices go higher.

So that really paid off, because that helped reduce the financial impact to our customers this last heating season, and we expect the same benefit this upcoming heating season.

- Is there any-- - I was just gonna say, the heating season runs, it's generally accepted, from November through March.

- Yeah, exactly.

So is there any kind of domino effect?

When natural gas prices go up, does it affect, let's say electrical prices, or any other type of our utilities?

- We're not going to see a change in electric prices this year.

We obviously have a lot of sources from which to draw for our electric service, including a heck of a lot of renewable energy that we have here in Iowa.

So this is really a natural gas issue for our customers, this winter heating season.

- So it really is important to get prepared now, and I know MidAmerican offers budget billing plans, and also there's moratoriums when it comes to utility cutoffs, but you want people to be proactive right now.

- Yeah, it's not something a company really wants to talk about, that prices are gonna be higher for customers, but it's something that's necessary.

I mean, we're customers too.

I'm a MidAmerican Energy customer, and I appreciate the heads up that, "Hey, you need to be aware that prices are going to be going up this heating season."

And so we wanted to give our customers an opportunity to act now, and there are measures you can do even before it gets cold to help think about the energy that you use, and perhaps to lower the energy you use this upcoming heating season.

Now of course there are a couple of variables here.

We know that prices are going to be high, and they're high right now, but we don't know exactly how high they'll be a few months from now, for example.

So that's a variable.

And then how cold will the weather get this winter?

Is it going to be a warmer winter?

If so you probably won't use as much energy.

Is it going to be a colder winter?

And if that's the case, then you'll probably use more energy, and of course the more energy you use, the higher the impact on your bills.

So there are some measures you can take that are within your power to reduce your energy use.

There are a couple of things.

For example, right now is a great time to take a look at your furnace.

Pretty much everybody, most everybody, has a natural gas service as the source for their furnace, and now's the time to have a professional come and take a look at it.

How efficient is your furnace?

Have you replaced your air filter?

Something that most people should do probably about every month so it runs more efficiently.

Think about your temperature.

How cold or how warm do you set your temperature?

We recommend that probably about 68 degrees is an ideal temperature, but you can turn it down even more at night when you're sleeping and you've got blankets on.

You can turn it down as well if you're away from the home during the day and you don't need that heat.

- Let's be honest, there is help out there if you need it.

- We have a free home energy assessment, it's called HomeCheck Online, it doesn't cost anything.

You can do it 24/7, and it'll give you a really good idea of how you're doing in the energy efficiency area, maybe some ideas on things that you need to address, or maybe it tells you, "Hey, you're in great shape with this."

That's free, and we'll even send you a home efficiency kit that has some items, some products, that are really easy to install and will help with your energy efficiency bills, and that's something you can request once you've finished the HomeCheck Online for the first time.

If you're having any financial difficulty, if you think, "Man, I'm having trouble making ends meet, and I don't know about my energy bill," please give us a call, let us know that you are struggling.

We will do whatever we can.

We'll do anything reasonable to work with you.

- Jeff Greenwood, spokesman for MidAmerican Energy.

On the air, on the radio, on the web, on your mobile device, and streaming on your computer, thanks for taking some time to join us as we talk about the issues on "The Cities."

- [Announcer] Wheelan-Pressly Funeral Home & Crematory, a proud supporter of WQPT, has been serving Quad City families since 1889.

They now have live stream capabilities for viewing your loved one's funeral or memorial service.

- [Announcer] At IHMVCU, we've always been here for you.

You are, and always will be our top priority.

We care about your financial and physical health, and we are here.

IHMVCU is a proud supporter of WQPT.