Democratic leaders in the state legislature plan to introduce a bill that would allow many more public employees to unionize.
The bill, to be introduced in the upcoming session, would remove a longstanding exemption that has stopped the employees of most Colorado cities, counties and universities from organizing.
“Collective bargaining is a fundamental right that should be available to all Coloradans regardless of where they work. Our current laws actually deny this basic right to some of the most important workers in our state, including to tens of thousands of local public employees,” said House Majority Leader Daneya Esgar in an interview.
Currently, a city’s employees can only formally organize if it’s allowed under their city’s laws.
Out of nearly 270 local governments, only 16 have collectively bargained contracts with any of their workers. Most commonly, uniformed services such as police have been able to unionize in larger cities.
Esgar argued that unionization would result in better wages, benefits and working conditions.
“Colorado simply can't afford to continue to lose these highly skilled essential workers because we're failing to compete in the increasingly tight labor market,” she said.
Under the new law, the employees of any local government could choose to have a union drive. It would also apply to workers at public schools, colleges and universities; library districts; fire authorities; special districts; and public defenders,...
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