Union members rally to press Colorado governor to repeal labor law

Union workers gathered at the Capitol on Wednesday to urge Gov. Jared Polis to support legislation repealing a key requirement before labor organizations can impose dues on non-union employees. 

Under the current 80-year-old law, an election must take place to form a union. That election just needs a simple majority to pass. The second election, which allows for the establishment of a "union security" agreement at a unionized workplace, requires a higher threshold of 75% to pass.

Senate Bill 005 cleared the Senate in February and passed through its first committee in the House last week; it will next be heard by the House Appropriations Committee before heading to the House Floor for second and third readings. If it clears those hurdles, it will head to the governor's desk. However, Polis has made it clear that he would not sign the bill into law unless it has the support of both business and labor, and it appears that a compromise has not yet been reached. 

"I remain open to a solution that brings workers and business to the table in a way that's stable for our state," Polis recently told Colorado Politics. "The Labor Peace Act has been stable for eight decades. I fundamentally believe that many of these proposed changes would not be as stable, so I'm optimistic that labor and business are talking, and I'm hoping those conversations are fruitful."

The bill's supporters argued that the current law is antiquated and that unionization is ultimately good for workers and the state economy. Critics said the current law is working and upending it will undercut Colorado's economic gains.

Bill sponsor Rep. Javier Mabrey, D-Denver, called the bill "a basic principle of fairness and workplace democracy" that would make it easier for workers to unionize. 

"Colorado families are struggling to get by while mega-corporations and CEOs are reaping in record profits," he told the crowd gathered on the Capitol steps. "The billionaire class has wreaked our economy and it's past time to level the playing field."

David Seligman, executive director of the nonprofit law firm Towards Justice, read a speech on behalf of Federal Trade Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya, who was scheduled to appear at the rally but was unable to make it. Bedoya was fired by the Trump administration on Tuesday.

"Across the research, the one factor that is consistently proven to improve workers' health care, their benefits, and their safety on the shop floor is their membership in a union," Bedoya wrote. "This is a basic and fundamental right, and it's also the kind of thing that's pretty threatening to the billionaire class."

Bedoya criticized Trump for firing him and fellow Democratic Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, saying the president is attempting to turn the FTC into a "lapdog for his golfing buddies."

"That's Musk and Trump's DC; it doesn't have to be like that in Colorado," he wrote.  

Liza Neilsen, a former Starbucks worker who helped her workplace unionize, said she and her coworkers were subject to intimidation tactics, including captive audience meetings and illegal firings and writeups. 

Despite this, Neilsen said the workers elected to to form a union. However, it's been three years, and they have yet to hold that second election, which would allow the labor group to negotiate with the company in order to impose dues on non-union workers.  

"After voting for the union, they're forced to go through the gauntlet of intimidation all over again," said Neilsen. "That opens the door for more harassment and retaliation, something no worker should have to endure. They risk their livelihoods just to negotiate for better conditions. That's not right. That is why we need the Worker Protection Act."

The business community said the bill will weaken the state's economy and risk upending a system that has served it well at a critical time for Colorado businesses.   

Jamie Chavez of the Westminster Chamber of Commerce noted that the current law has provided Colorado workers and employers a "balanced solution" to labor-employer relations for nearly a century.

"It represents an effective and reasonable compromise that has protected workers' rights to organize and collectively bargain, while simultaneously presenting Colorado as a favorable and attractive state to start, build, grow, or relocate businesses," she said. 

Removing the law, which is called Labor Peace Act, would allow a simple majority of workers to "effectively commandeer" a portion of employees' paychecks, regardless of membership status, said Chavez.

Members of the chamber have expressed worries that Colorado is becoming less attractive to businesses due to high regulation, and this bill, if enacted into law, would constitute yet another blow, Chavez said.

J.J. Ament, president and CEO of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, earlier said Colorado has thrived under the Labor Peace Act.

It's a "particularly bad idea to open up this fight," Ament said, given where Colorado's economy is relative to the COVID-19 pandemic, and at a time when costs are high and state competitiveness is declining.

Senate Bill 005 is sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Robert Rodriguez, D-Denver, Sen. Jessie Danielson, D-Wheat Ridge, and Reps. Jennifer Bacon, D-Denver, and Javier Mabrey, D-Denver.