State chamber backs right-to-work plan

Move sets stage for labor, business battle

By David Milstead, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Thursday, March 27, 2008

The state chamber of commerce endorsed a right-to-work ballot initiative Thursday, ratcheting up the rhetoric in a looming battle between business and labor in this fall's election.

The Colorado Association of Commerce and Industry, known as CACI, says it's reacting to a half-dozen possible ballot initiatives backed by the state's labor unions. The proposed initiatives restrict employers' ability to fire workers and create new liabilities for corporate executives for criminal action.

The right-to-work initiative would outlaw arrangements requiring all employees to pay fees for union representation, whether they are members or not.

In a statement, CACI Board Chair-elect Peter O'Connor, the general counsel for AngloGold Ashanti North America, said the initiatives, combined with a "proliferation of union-backed bills" in this year's legislative session, have caused the state chamber to conclude "the political balance in the state is in danger of being tipped in favor of unions."

Relations between business and labor have been tense since early 2007, when a Democratic state legislature passed House Bill 1072, a measure making it easier to create an all-union workplace. Gov. Bill Ritter subsequently vetoed that bill, but surprised business later in the year when he issued an executive order expanding union powers for the state's workers.

The right-to-work ballot initiative emerged soon after. Both CACI and the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce had been holding off endorsing it.

However, two members of CACI's board have been organizing the right-to-work initiative, spokesman Dan Pilcher said. And the Denver chamber hired an attorney to challenge the union proposals in the title-setting process.

Tamra Ward, the vice president for public affairs for the Denver chamber, said her group's board has not taken a stand on right-to-work and has not put it on its agenda.

Mike Cerbo, director of the Colorado AFL-CIO, said it is "pretty sad" the state chamber is "aligning themselves with out-of-state interests."

Union officials do not say their intitiatives are a retaliation for the right-to-work effort. Some business leaders believe the union measures will go away if backers drop right-to-work.

But, says CACI's Pilcher, "We have not been involved in any discussion or communication with organized labor about the business community dropping its support of right-to-work in exchange for dropping their business proposals. We're just not a part of that conversation."

Proposed initiatives

Right to work

* Who's behind it: Conservatives and business leaders, plus the Colorado Association of Commerce and Industry.

* Where it stands: Moved to the petition phase; signatures are being collected and are due in April.

* Details: Would forbid workers from being forced to join unions as a condition of employment, even though federal law already prohibits such agreements. It would outlaw "union shop" agreements that require employees covered by collective bargaining contracts to pay fees for the union representation. Applies to new contracts and renewal of existing ones.

Just cause

* Who's behind it: Coalition of labor groups and individuals.

* Where it stands: Passed the state's title-setting board, subject to appeals.

* Details: Employees could be fired or suspended only if employer can prove incompetence, policy violations, willful misconduct, conviction of a crime involving "moral turpitude"or certain economic circumstances. One version would apply to larger businesses, large nonprofits, but not government.

Corporate fraud

* Who's behind it: The same groups behind the "just cause" initiative.

* Where it stands: Passed the state's title-setting board, subject to appeals.

* Details: Expands liability to executives and directors who fail to stop a crime. Private citizens could sue a business or its executives after a corporate fraud.