A group of Democratic Colorado lawmakers will run a bill next year to alter the state’s labor laws by removing a secondary election requirement for unions.
The bill, dubbed the Worker Protection Act, would repeal a requirement that workers win a second election — on top of the one to form their union — to require fees from every worker that the union represents. Colorado is the only state to have that requirement, which is part of the state’s 1943 Labor Peace Act.
“It is uniquely hard to form a union in the state of Colorado, and we are asking our colleagues to affirm the right to collectively bargain and fight for better pay and safer workplaces,” Democratic Rep. Javier Mabrey of Denver said.
Mabrey, House Assistant Majority Leader Jennifer Bacon of Denver, Sen. Robert Rodriguez of Denver and Sen. Jessie Danielson of Wheat Ridge will run the bill. They said they will introduce it during the first week of the new legislative session that starts Jan. 8.
Employees need to win a simple majority to become represented by a union. But to negotiate “union security,” which requires that every worker benefitting from union negotiations pay into it, workers need to win a second election with up to a 75% vote. That is known as an all-union agreement election. It does not compel union membership.
Of five AUA elections in Colorado in 2024 so far, four were successful, according to state data. Of the 553 unions that initiated a second election in Colorado between July 1977 and July 2024, 68% were successful, according to an analysis from the left-leaning Colorado Fiscal Institute released Tuesday.
CFI estimated that updating Colorado’s labor law could increase a union worker’s annual income by $2,300.
It is uniquely hard to form a union in the state of Colorado, and we are asking our colleagues to affirm the right to collectively bargain and fight for better pay and safer workplaces.
– Democratic Rep. Javier Mabrey
The current system means a union can win that first election, but employees wouldn’t be compelled to pay the dues or representation fees that fund activities like collective bargaining negotiations, unfair labor practice filings and representation in disciplinary meetings. Advocates say the two-election system is a barrier to financial strength, stability and longevity, and can make it harder for unions to bargain for better pay or safer working conditions.
“Colorado laws insert the government into these negotiations,” Rodriguez said. “Workers don’t need the government to tell them what is right for them in their workplace.”
The lawmakers spoke alongside dozens of union members — as well as Attorney General Phil Weiser, Secretary of State Jena Griswold and Treasurer Dave Young, all Democrats — in the state Capitol on Tuesday. Gov. Jared Polis, who vetoed a series of labor protection bills this year to the frustration of progressive Democrats in the Legislature, was not present at the unveiling.
Lawmakers on Tuesday characterized the bill as one to remove a “procedural speed bump.”
Polis spokesperson Shelby Wieman, however, called the two election system an “avenue to strengthen unions through union security agreements.”
“The Labor Peace Act has been in effect in Colorado since 1943 and maintained a balance between labor and business interests that has made workers and businesses in Colorado prosper. As the Governor who has expanded labor rights and has proudly signed laws that expanded collective bargaining, he is leery of the need for a new bill to open the Labor Peace Act that serves the state and workers so well. Any changes to The Labor Peace Act would need to find common ground with employers and businesses and labor, and the Governor is deeply skeptical of this bill without a heavily negotiated, thoughtful, and comprehensive process,” she wrote in an email.
The bill will likely be opposed by business groups across the state.
Mabrey said Democrats’ losses during the election this month, which saw Republicans win the White House and both chambers of Congress, should raise alarm bells. The success of this bill, he said, is entirely in the hands of the Democratic Party, which controls Colorado’s governorship and both legislative chambers.
“We have to return to our roots in centering a concern to working families. This is an opportunity to return to that commitment to workers and collective bargaining,” he said.
“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 Trump and his monopolist buddies working together to gut federal labor protections.”
This story first appeared at Colorado Newsline. Colorado Newsline is part of States Newsroom, a national nonprofit news organization. Colorado Newsline is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, independent source of online news.