GOP points finger at union revelations

Records request exposes Dems' bid for bargaining

Chris Barge And Lynn Bartels, Rocky Mountain News

Published September 5, 2007 at midnight

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Gov. Bill Ritter and legislators are quietly working with two major unions on a bill that would, for the first time, give state employees the power to bargain collectively for better wages and benefits.

The closed-door efforts were flushed out into the open Tuesday when Ritter's office released more than 1,000 pages of documents in response to an open records request by a Republican consultant.

Included was a June 26 e-mail from a union representative urging one of Ritter's policy analysts to keep the negotiations secret.

"Our thinking at this point is purely political - we believe that the state employee agenda for next session will be a heavy lift, and therefore has the potential to be extremely polarizing if not messaged correctly," Service Employees International Union Legislative Director Scott Wasserman wrote to analyst Christy Murphy.

"We want to make sure that the ideas we're floating aren't viewed without context and that potential opponents don't have an opportunity to react to the proposal long before it's ready for prime time," he wrote.

Republican campaign consultant Brad Jones, who also is managing editor of facethestate.com, a "free market news Web site," filed the open records request.

Republicans jumped on the documents as validating their suspicions that Ritter and fellow Democrats, who control both houses of the legislature, plan to strong-arm a collective bargaining bill into law next session.

"I think it confirms our concerns that there's going to be a union raid on the state budget," said Senate Minority Leader Andy McElhany, R-Colorado Springs.

Ritter's spokesman, Evan Dreyer, declined to discuss the potential legislation, except to say: "The governor has made no secret and has been very open about his desire to strengthen partnerships with snowplow drivers, prison guards and the other men and women who make up the state workforce.

"It is a shame that Sen. McElhany and other Senate Republicans do not value the workforce that carries out the policies established by the legislature, which includes Sen. McElhany."

The unions involved are Colorado Association of Public Employees, its umbrella organization, the SEIU, and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

Plan wasn't introduced

Senate President Joan Fitz- Gerald, D-Coal Creek Canyon, said she and Ritter talked at the start of last year's session about an "empowerment package," which she described as giving state workers "more ownership over their jobs."

But the proposal was never introduced, which she attributed to the fallout over Ritter's veto of the pro-union HB 1072. That bill would have made it easier to unionize work places.

Fitz-Gerald is viewed as staunchly pro-union. Almost all of the political action committee donations she has collected for her 2008 congressional run are from unions.

She said workers are frustrated because they have had small pay raises, but large hikes in the cost of health insurance. In addition, in some departments positions have not been filled and other workers are being asked to do more than one job.

"Our job is to make sure employees feel valued," she said. "We want a government that works. There is a portion of the Republican Party that doesn't want government to work, so it can get rid of it, outsource it and privatize it. Of course, then we have no control over it."

A draft of the "empowerment package," titled "State Employee Partnerships," was included in the documents released Tuesday. So was an SEIU memo summarizing the bill, sent Aug. 14 to Ritter's chief legal counsel, Trey Rogers.

"As you know, last year we worked with Representative Rosemary Marshall and, with the assistance of the Office of Legislative Legal Services, drafted proposed legislation that would implement a Partnership system giving state employees the right to choose a representative to bargain with the state," SEIU Assistant General Counsel Steven K. Ury wrote.

Difference in wording

Marshall, D-Denver, denied Tuesday that the draft legislation had anything to do with collective bargaining, even though it states, in part, that "a negotiated employee partnership agreement would shape the legislative budget-setting process."

"Nothing was ever introduced," she said.

In an Aug. 28 letter, Marshall informed Rogers that she was denying Ritter's office permission to release "a work product drafted for me by legal services during the 2007 legislative session" regarding the organizing of employee unions in state government.

In the cover letter of its Tuesday response to Jones' open records request, Ritter's legal counsel writes that it is therefore withholding a document as "legislative work product."

Jones said he and a lawyer are looking into whether Ritter violated the law by withholding that document.

E-mail excerpts

• We want to make sure that the ideas we're floating aren't viewed without context and that potential opponents don't have an opportunity to react to the proposal long before it's ready for prime time. As we discussed yesterday, even all the employee associations/unions aren't on the same page yet and while we've done as much communication as we can with them about our proposal, there is still opportunity for misinterpretation, etc.

Scott Wasserman legislative director of SEIU Colorado to Christy Murphy, policy analyst for Gov. Bill Ritter

• While we now feel that many sections of that proposed legislation need to be changed because of changed circumstances, the sections of that proposed legislation dealing with the mechanics of administering a partnership law and the scope of its activities are still relevant and can be incorporated into legislation this year."

From an SEIU memorandum forwarded to Ritter's chief legal counsel from SEIU general counsel

• Ultimately, on economics, a negotiated employee partnershp agreement would shape the legislative budget-setting process. The Governor, in partnership with employees, would go to the legislature with a jointly supported request for financial needs."

From the draft bill State Employee Partnerships, that Rep. Rosemary Marshall worked on with the SEIU last year but never introduced

• I guess I didn't know that we were going to be moving on this until all the details were thoroughly worked out and we went forward with a plan the Admin and the unions (and legislators) agreed upon. I've also heard that SEIU plans to start distributing authorization cards to ALL state employees on Labor Day (Confidential, inside info for your info only).

Jo Romero president of the Colorado Federation of Public Employees, to Rich Gonzales, director of the Department of Personnel and Administration

What would change for state employees

• State employees can join unions now, but the unions can only help individual workers resolve disputes with management over disciplinary action, wages and benefits.

• Two of the largest unions want legislation that, for the first time, would give state employees the power to bargain collectively for better wages and benefits.

bargec@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5049

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