DENVER — Colorado lawmakers voted 4-3 last week to advance legislation that would make it easier for workers to form strong unions.
A group of Democrats are proposing getting rid of a decades-old requirement they say is standing in the way of progress for the state’s working class. But opponents say their proposal will disrupt a model that has helped Colorado's economy grow for decades.
To form a union with the power to negotiate for better pay and working conditions, Colorado’s Labor Peace Act requires workers to hold two elections. The first election to form a union requires a simple majority approval. The second election to negotiate a union security clause requires a supermajority (75%) approval.
If a union security agreement is reached, all workers who benefit from the negotiations, including those who are not part of the union, pay their share of representation costs.
Under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), workers cannot be required to join a union. The fees they pay as part of a union security agreement cover the cost of the union representing them in collective bargaining. It is not a union membership fee.
Len Harris, a former Starbucks employee who helped her co-workers form a union a few years ago, said achieving supermajority approval in the second election can be difficult.
"That's a really hard margin to hit even when people agree with each other,” said Harris. "It's just an intentional barrier set up by people with money and power to stop worker power from coalescing."
Harris said the local union still does not have a contract nearly four years later. That’s why she is pushing for passage of Senate Bill 25-005, which would eliminate the second election.
“I think it would do well for representatives both in the Senate and the House and the governor to listen,” said Harris.
- Read the bill's fiscal note below
But not everyone thinks getting rid of the second election is a good idea.
“We are concerned that this would be disruptive to our economy and the balance that we have had in place for business and labor for over 70 years,” said Loren Furman, president and CEO of the Colorado Chamber of Commerce.
Furman said the current requirements are a major reason why Colorado’s wages are some of the highest in the country.
“We are the only state that has this current structure,” said Furman. “Companies who want to locate here have said this is an incentive for them to come to Colorado.”
The bill to remove the second vote advanced from the Colorado Senate’s Business, Labor and Technology Committee last week by a vote of 4-3.
All of the Democrats on the committee — Senators Jessie Danielson, Nick Hinrichsen, Faith Winter and Iman Jodeh — voted in favor of the bill. Danielson is one of the bill's Senate sponsors.
All three Republicans on the committee — Senators Larry Liston, Lisa Frizell, and Scott Bright — voted against the measure.
It now awaits a hearing in the Colorado Senate Appropriations Committee.
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