LITTWIN: Smiling guv walks line with union

By Mike Littwin, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published November 3, 2007 at midnight

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Bill Ritter didn't call a news conference Friday. He didn't go in front of the TV cameras. He didn't surround himself with happy state workers for a photo op.

He didn't - you can bet your political life he didn't - call in the SEIU or AFSME or CAPE or, for that matter, the Hollywood Writers Guild in order to proudly proclaim himself a friend of the working man and/or woman.

What he did was wait until late Friday afternoon to dump an eight-page executive order on the doorstep - actually, it came via e-mail, but you can't beat the doorstep for imagery - of the local media and then (reader alert: yes, more imagery) get the hell out of Dodge.

This should not surprise anyone, in Dodge or elsewhere.

The only words in Colorado politics scarier than "collective" and "bargaining" are - if you're keeping score - "illegal" and "immigrant."

What Ritter did, with his order, was to authorize "partnership agreements" with state workers. "Partnership agreements" allow for "employee-management cooperation," which means, in this case, that the state of Colorado recognizes - and maybe he even approves of - the right of state workers to organize into unions.

Workers already had the right to organize into something, but this order - in the words of the three-page explanation that accompanies the eight-page executive order - "creates a formal framework for the state to recognize those associations."

Confused? Don't be. Here's all you need to know: This is about labor getting - to use the popular phrase - a seat at the table. Ritter got them the seat.

Just don't expect to see a photo of him soon anywhere near a table, unless he's carving turkey at Thanksgiving dinner.

The thing is, Ritter has done exactly the right thing in giving state workers a voice. If you'll remember, Ritter's greatest controversy - scratch that: only real controversy - since coming to office was his surprise veto of a bill that would have slightly enhanced a union's ability to organize out there in, as we say, the private sector.

You can safely take this executive order to be a makeup call, which gives unions easier access to state workers. And, as a side benefit, it will bring everyone together - here's where you get your big-smile, group-hug photo op - in time for the Democratic National Convention next summer at the Pepsi Center.

It may have been late on a Friday afternoon, but critics were still prepared to respond, even if it meant running into happy hour. Several pointed to the fact that Colorado state workers are already paid reasonably well in relation to those in other states. I think we're ranked ninth. If only CU were doing that well.

The executive order has been called - see the Rocky's editorial today, as one example - a solution in search of a problem. Of course, that suggests that workers don't need unions except in cases of Scrooge-like employers.

A statement from Tony Gagliardi, Colorado state director for the National Federation of Independent Business, is close to hysterical - in both senses of the word.

This order, he says, makes Colorado a "less friendly place for businesses to come to and remain here."

And it's apparently worse than that. He says the order is "sure to create a larger division between labor and business, a division that cannot be good for the citizens of this state and our economy."

And yet, here's what the order doesn't do. It explicitly says that workers don't have to join a union or pay dues to a union. It doesn't allow for binding arbitration, meaning that no one can force the governor or the legislature to accept any union demands. It doesn't allow union workers to strike.

In other words, we're not exactly in Big Bill Haywood territory here. In fact, when selling the plan, Ritter says that it's about being able to partner with state workers in order to better hear their suggestions for a more efficient state government. What kind of negotiation is that?

What you have here is a predictably modest move by the always moderate Ritter, who, by signing an executive order, effectively kept the issue out of the legislature. That's where you would have had loud and serious and prolonged debate.

Now, if Ritter gets his way, this debate will drift away long before you turn on the Patriots-Colts game Sunday.

Not that Republicans won't try to make more of it. They're desperate for an issue that will stick to Ritter. They thought they had one with the so-called property-tax freeze, which freed up money for education. Somehow, the outrage never developed. Now that Ritter is on record as saying that unions might be an actual benefit to society, they'll see if that works.

I've got an idea how to bet. So far, according to a recent Ciruli Associates poll, Ritter has a 71 percent approval rating. That, brothers and sisters, is what you call solidarity.

littwinm@RockyMountainNews.com

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