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State troopers first to register as a union

Ritter exec order lets government workers organize

By David Montero, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published March 29, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Colorado state troopers on Friday became the first group to officially register themselves as a union under Gov. Bill Ritter's executive order that allows government employees to organize.

The group registered with the Colorado Department of Labor after 75 percent of troopers voted to organize this month, according to labor department spokeswoman Cher Roybal Haavind.

She said out of 709 ballots sent out to the troopers, 431 were returned - easily surpassing the 30 percent participation required to organize.

The troopers will now be represented under the Association of Colorado State Patrol Professionals and can take a list of requests straight to the governor's designee that handles the negotiations.

However, the organized group differs from a union in that there is no binding arbitration agreements or right to strike.

Lonnie Westphal, the group's executive director, said one of the top issues that will be taken to the governor's designee is salaries - specifically the raises troopers get after being on the job for six or seven years.

He said currently troopers make a good starting salary but by the time they can train new recruits, the experienced troopers are only "making a few dollars more a month than the recruit they're training."

According to the trooper Web site, the salary structure ranges from $4,051 a month to $5,755 a month.

The executive order Ritter issued in November provided a forum for state employees to raise such concerns. His spokesman, Evan Dreyer, said both sides are feeling their way through the new process.

"The intent is to bring people to the table to discuss issues of mutual concern and reach common ground and to move forward and to serve the people more effectively," Dreyer said. "The intent was never to create a traditional binding arbitration type of system."

Westphal agreed and said Ritter's executive order is filled with caveats.

Westphal also said state troopers have a no-strike clause - something that has been in place since 1935. Ritter's executive order prohibits the organized state employees from striking.

Westphal said he sees a real opportunity for troopers to have direct input into the salary and benefits they'd like to see included in their employment package. He said one of their chief concerns is health care benefits - especially in rural areas where access to health care is not as good and more expensive.

But Westphal said there are limits on what troopers can get the state to do.

"There is no way of forcing them to agree to our list of priorities," he said.

Comments

  • March 29, 2008

    8:18 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    dlocherd writes:

    Of course, this story was broken by ColoradoConfidential.com, with no credit given I see.

  • April 7, 2008

    1:53 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    sec970 writes:

    Call me crazy, but whatever happened to simply ASKING the troopers what they would like in terms of salary and benefits? Why do we need an entire new level of bureaucracy (in the form of a union) for managers to be able to talk with our state employees? Just curious.....