DENVER — Come November, Denver voters may be able to decide whether or not the majority of city employees are allowed to participate in collective bargaining.
"Right now, the only city employees that are able to participate in collective bargaining and are part of unions are our Denver Fire Department, Denver Police Department, and our Sheriffs [Department]," said At-Large Denver City Council Member Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez.
Gonzales-Gutierrez is one of several city council members who support the effort to get the issue on the November ballot.
If passed, all career service employees and employees with the city council, Library Commission, Civil Service Commission, Board of Adjustment and Denver Water would be eligible for collective bargaining. It would not include Denver Health and Hospital Authority employees and any supervisory and confidential employees.
"This is an opportunity to make sure that their voices are at the table when we are thinking about these innovative approaches to how we improve our city, that the folks who are most impacted by those decisions are actually at the table and they have a voice," said Denver City Council Member Shontel Lewis.
If the measure is approved to appear on the ballot, and if passed by voters, it would allow eligible city employees to create so-called bargaining units.
Within those units, they could choose to start the effort to join a union with at least a 33% vote of members. Following that, a majority of workers would need to approve to join an actual union. If they do decide to join a union, negotiations with the city would begin. A final vote of approval from the workers would be required before a final collective bargaining agreement goes into effect.
"I think that the myth that this is just going to happen overnight and that immediately there will be all of this bargaining and all this work that will need to be done is false. It's going to take at least anywhere between two to three years before we actually see a collective bargaining agreement occur in the city," said Gonzales-Gutierrez.
The topic has been discussed in committee for some time. The first full city council hearing on the matter is scheduled for June 24.
"Our city employees, who recently we've really asked a lot of them in terms of migrant sheltering, in terms of sheltering unhoused folks in the city, many, many departments across the city have pitched into that, and I think they deserve to be able to advocate for what they need," said At-Large Denver City Council Member Sarah Parady.
Denver7 reached out to several groups who opposed similar measures in other communities. Spokespersons said, at this time, they have yet to take a stance on the issue in Denver.
