Big boost for public workers unions

Hundreds signing up; foes say Ritter's order opens door to disputes

By Chris Barge, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Originally published 07:11 p.m., April 10, 2008
Updated 12:13 a.m., April 11, 2008

Bill Ritter gave unions a larger voice in state government.

The unions that pushed the hardest for Gov. Bill Ritter's executive order granting them a larger voice in state government could soon see a nearly fourfold increase in membership.

They are also showing prospective members a report recommending increasing state worker wages and benefits to attract and retain a higher-quality work force.

Opponents of the executive order say it's proof that Ritter has unnecessarily opened the door to future wage disputes and, ultimately, higher taxes.

The unions, which had fewer than 6,000 dues-paying state workers on their rolls before the Nov. 2 order, could soon exclusively represent the vast majority of the state's 32,000 qualifying workers.

Workers, teachers signing up

The Colorado Association of Public Employees (a division of SEIU), the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, and the American Federation of Teachers formed a coalition called Colorado WINS four days after Ritter's order and immediately launched a furious recruitment campaign.

Their work has paid off. As of Thursday, they had submitted to the state Department of Labor signed "cards of support" from at least 30 percent of workers in five of state employees' seven worker categories.

That means that barring another union submitting an equal number of cards soon, Colorado WINS could schedule a membership election before the end of April that could bring more than 20,000 employees under its umbrella. And Colorado WINS is still collecting signatures in a bid to represent the remaining categories.

Colorado WINS has in recent weeks circulated to prospective union members a report titled "The Escalating Crisis in Colorado State Government: A Looming Loss of Skilled and Experienced State Workers Threatens to Undermine the Delivery and Quality of Vital Public Services."

Benjamin DeGrow, education policy analyst at the conservative Independence Institute, plans to release a competing report on Monday called "A Shaky Foundation, a Potential Threat: Analyzing Colorado State Union 'Employee Partnerships.' "

He argues that Ritter's executive order granting union representation through so-called "partnership agreements" is misguided, unnecessary and ultimately will result in unions holding Ritter and lawmakers hostage to their demands for higher wages and benefits.

Ritter has emphasized that his order specifically bans strikes, prohibits binding arbitration and bars unions from charging dues to nonmembers. Last week he signed a state worker strike ban into law.

'Complete coup,' says lawmaker

The governor hopes the unions' exclusive representation of state employees will get Colorado closer to achieving the goals of the order, said his spokesman, Evan Dreyer.

"This is an effort to bring employees to the table in a more meaningful way, to elicit ideas from them, with the ultimate goal of improving services and making state government more efficient and effective for taxpayers," Dreyer said.

Many Republican lawmakers say the governor should have vetted his "partnerships" model through the legislature, rather than through an executive order issued quietly on a Friday afternoon.

"It looks like the complete and total unionization of state government is rapidly advancing and Gov. Ritter cleared the way for that to happen," said Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma. "Employees that did not want to be represented by the union will have no say. Cost of government will increase. The cost of benefits will go up. The cost of health care will go up. This is a complete coup of state government."

Nothing could be farther from the truth, said Ron Guerrero, a state employee of 20 years who is a dispatcher with the Department of Public Safety at the state hospital in Pueblo.

"A lot of people want higher wages," he said. "That will come into play."

However, workers realize that the best way to earn more money is to help make the government run more efficiently, thereby allowing it to sock away more money for wages and benefits, Guerrero said.

bargec@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5059

• April 10, 2008

  11:59 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  happymike44 writes:

  Let me tell you I have worked for non union employees.Also I have worked for unions.I have had one employer who was great to work for.I went back recently and they were closed.When I worked for the union they told me everything.My boss was hostile to all of us.We were under the gun between keeping the employer happy and the union happy.But no matter what the problem my union rep was great he always told us have a problem come to us and let us know.I think that one of the biggest retailers could use a union for the low level employees to make a living.They do the work why not be paid properly for your labor.After all how many billions of dollars of profit should you keep.The average person who works there is only paid on average minium wage.Why should they not get healthcare and profit sharing.So why not make them share the wealth instead of hoarding the money like a miser.America was built on the backs of the unions.I think the reason we do not have secure employment is the dissolution of the union.

• April 11, 2008

  12:31 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  Formerjournalist writes:

  Please, some critical thinking is in order. How can the Independence Institute analyze state employee partnerships in Colorado when they don't yet exist? And please return to identifying the Independence Institute as what it is. Quote its mission, if you have forgotten.

• April 13, 2008

  9:49 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  davebarnes writes:

  Temporary supremacy.
  Wait until November and the passage of the "Right to Work" amendment to the Colorado Constitution.
  BIll Ritter started this war and he will rue the day that he did so.