Municipal workers in Colorado won the right to form unions with Colorado’s Collective Bargaining by County Employees Act, which goes into effect in 2023 and provides a significant expansion of collective bargaining rights for public sector workers.
In 2018, the Supreme Court of the United States decided Janus v. Am. Fed’n of State, Cnty., & Mun. Emps., Council 31, 138 S. Ct. 2448 (2018), holding that public sector unions cannot require non-member employees to pay union fees. In anticipation of, and in response to, this outcome, bills relating to public-sector employee unions were introduced in state legislatures across the nation.1
INTRODUCTION
For employers and employment law practitioners in states where these laws are new, or not yet in effect, the repercussions on their workforce should not be understated. Based on the latest data concerning union membership released by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics,2 on average, in states where public employers are “permitted,” but not legally required, to collectively bargain, 7.7% of employees were represented by a union in 2021.2 This is in stark contrast to states with legislation requiring public employers to collectively bargain, where on average 14.1% of employees were represented by a union in 2021.3 Overall, states that have enacted laws related to public-sector employee unions see significantly higher union membership rates in both the public and private sector. This article focuses on the...
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