Public meetings urged on union plan

GOP senator asks guv to delay rules for state workers

Chris Barge, Rocky Mountain News

Published August 15, 2007 at midnight

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Republicans urged Gov. Bill Ritter on Tuesday to hold public meetings across Colorado to scrutinize a proposed policy that would formalize union access to state employees.

The new guidelines, by Colorado Department of Personnel and Administration Director Rich Gonzales, would require the state to provide employee organizations with space to hold meetings, e-mail addresses of all employees and use of state mailrooms.

Republicans charge the policy will turn Colorado into a union paradise. Democrats, meanwhile, defend the new rules as a sensible interpretation of state law.

In an e-mail to Ritter's legislative liaison, state Sen. Josh Penry, R-Fruita, asked the governor to put the policy on hold and open it up to a 120-day, statewide public comment period.

"A decision to give labor unions broad access to taxpayer-subsidized services and facilities is a significant policy change that shouldn't be crammed through an obscure administrative process by unelected political appointees without the benefit of real public scrutiny," Penry said.

Gonzales, a Ritter appointee, said he wrote the policy in response to confusion expressed by several state department directors over how to deal with requests by union organizations to communicate with state employees.

It just clarifies the existing rules of engagement for unions and state agencies, he said, adding that the idea of a full-blown series of public hearings across the state smacks of inefficiency in government.

"I'm just sort of doing my job here as the head of this organization to respond to some issues," he said. "I guess I'm at a loss for how I respond to this."

The new policy is the least the state can do to comply with workers' rights to join unions, said Tim Allport, vice president of the union at the federal prison in Englewood.

"It never ceases to amaze me, the extraordinary lengths some people will go to keep labor down and keep unions under foot," he said. "All it's doing is bringing democracy to the workplace."

But Penry and other Republicans said Gonzales was stepping way outside his authority with the proposal.

"I personally think the governor should just ask one of the labor union cheerleaders in the Democratic Party to introduce a bill next session," he said. "But if he insists on pushing this through when the legislature is out of session, the least he can do is provide a meaningful opportunity for the public and elected officials to weigh in."

bargec@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5059

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