Flanked by dozens of union members, a group of Colorado Democrats unveiled legislation Tuesday to remove a unique barrier to union organizing in the state.
The proposal, which will not be introduced until the legislative session starts in early January, would repeal an 81-year-old requirement that unions in Colorado pass a second election before they can begin negotiating union dues and fees.
Colorado is the only state with such a rule, legislators said, and they cast the measure as a way to remove an additional government requirement from union-employer negotiations.
Federal law requires new unions to pass one election to form, though some states have so-called “right-to-work” laws that don’t require all employees in a unionized shop to pay dues or be a member of the union that represents them.
The Colorado legislation, dubbed the Worker Protection Act, will be backed by Denver Democratic Reps. Javier Mabrey and Jennifer Bacon, as well as Sens. Jessie Danielson, of Wheat Ridge, and Robert Rodriguez, also of Denver.
Rodriguez, the Senate’s majority leader, said at a news conference Tuesday in the state Capitol that the measure would be introduced during the first week of session. A group of unions — representing workers in health care, grocery stores and communications — are also backing the effort.
“We have been laboring under an unfair and outdated policy that makes it harder for workers to unionize, harder to seek those basic human rights that they deserve and that come with union security workplaces,” Danielson said, referring to unions that have passed their second election.
Mabrey cast the bill as a litmus test for Democrats, particularly ahead of a second Trump administration, and the proposed legislation comes six months after Gov. Jared Polis vetoed a pair of pro-labor bills. Those vetoes sparked a large protest, led by Democrats and labor unions, outside of the Capitol.
Another showdown with the governor’s office may be on the horizon: In a statement Tuesday, Polis spokeswoman Shelby Wieman said the governor “is proud that Colorado’s labor laws go further than those of the 26 right-to-work states by not only protecting the right to organize but also by providing an avenue to strengthen unions through union security agreements.”
But, Wieman wrote, Polis “is leery of the need for a new bill to open the Labor Peace Act that serves the state and workers so well,” referring to the 1943 state law that includes the second-election requirement. “Any changes to the Labor Peace Act would need to find common ground with employers and businesses and labor,” Wieman wrote, “and the governor is deeply skeptical of this bill without a heavily negotiated, thoughtful and comprehensive process.”
More than half of the United States have “right-to-work” laws, meaning employees who work in unionized shops in those states don’t have to be union members or pay dues. Colorado’s two-election system, the only one of its kind in the country, is effectively a diet right-to-work policy: To form a union, employees must first win a simple majority election. That process is governed by federal law.
Then, before they can begin negotiating dues and fees collection with employers, a union in Colorado must pass a second election, required by state law, that requires up to 75% of voting employees to back it. Should the union win, then the workers and the company can negotiate mandatory dues and fees under a security clause in a union contract. Members can still choose not to pay dues, but will instead pay “agency fees,” which help pay the union’s representation costs.
If the union doesn’t hold the second election or fails to win it, dues are voluntary. That additional barrier undermines a union’s financial strength and weakens its position at the bargaining table, officials and advocates said.
According to data from the left-leaning Colorado Fiscal Institute, 68% of 553 unions that pursued second elections between 1977 and 2024 successfully passed them. In 126 other cases, a majority of workers supported the second election, though not enough to clear the 75% threshold. In a report released Monday, CFI did not describe how many unions chose not to pursue the second election at all, though it suggests some didn’t because of the “high bar” to passage.
The group also released a chart showing union density in Colorado has generally mirrored levels seen in right-to-work states going back to the late 1970s. There was a spike in union membership here during the 2010s, according to CFI, though that has since dipped again.
Rich Martin, a King Soopers worker and member of the United Food and Commercial Workers union, said organizers at his store pursued the second election seven years ago.
“Management ran a very intense anti-union campaign, and the store manager wouldn’t allow people to take time to go down and vote,” he said. “So we lost.”
Before the Tuesday news conference was over, several business groups released a joint statement opposing the proposal as a disruption of the state’s long-standing labor laws. Loren Furman, the president and CEO of the Colorado Chamber of Commerce, said the proposal “would be counterintuitive to our goal of elevating Colorado’s competitiveness at a time when we should be making it easier to do business here.”
“We were disappointed to only learn yesterday about an upcoming bill that would repeal major provisions of the Labor Peace Act,” she wrote in a statement shared by Colorado Concern, the Colorado Competitive Council and the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce. “Colorado’s carefully crafted labor laws promote fair policies for workers while allowing for a healthy economic climate for business.”
The state’s three other statewide elected officials — Attorney General Phil Weiser, Secretary of State Jena Griswold and Treasurer Dave Young — were all in attendance Tuesday, as was Colorado Democratic Party chair Shad Murib. Though research shows that union membership boosts salary and benefits, just under 7% of Coloradans are union members, according to 2023 Census data. That’s below the national level of 10%.
Mabrey said the measure would test Democrats’ commitment to collective bargaining and union organizing, particularly as Democratic legislators here look to respond to the coming Trump administration.
“National pundits have been highlighting that Colorado Democrats performed uniquely well in this election, and this is where we get a chance to put up or shut up as we face the threats of authoritarianism from (President Donald) Trump and his monopolist buddies working together to gut federal labor protections,” Mabrey said. “Working people need the tools to fight back, and the second election is standing in their way.”
Updated 3 p.m. Nov. 19, 2024: This story has been updated to reflect that a union winning a second election doesn’t automatically institute dues and fees payments. Those provisions still must be negotiated.
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