‘There’s no company that doesn’t care about worker safety, that doesn’t care about productivity.’ — Minority Leader Paul Lundeen
By BRIAN PORTER | Rocky Mountain Voice
A series of seven amendments were all lost Thursday as Colorado Senate Republicans were powerless to improve upon a partisan Democrat bill they say is in search of a problem.
Senate Bill 25-005, by Majority Leader Robert Rodriguez and Democrat Sen. Jessie Danielson, which would undo significant portions of an 81-year-old labor relations law, was adopted by voice vote on second reading by the Democrat-dominated Senate.
That 1943 policy set Colorado apart and should continue, Minority Leader Paul Lundeen said.
“It represents middle ground between right-to-work states and union states,” he said. “The act aimed to strike a balance.”
The bill’s co-author, Rodriguez, argued the elimination of the requirement for a second election in policy is a concept whose time is due. The Colorado Chamber of Commerce disagrees, taking an oppose position to the bill in January.
“It is the most effective way to support Colorado’s working class,” he said, calling the second election “antiquated”. “It will ensure Colorado moves forward, not backward.”
Among those opposing the new measure are Republican Sen. Larry Liston, who simply made the case it “has worked successfully for 81 years”.
Republicans specifically took aim at union members being forced to pay for union representation, for which they might not all agree.
“We’ve moved from a system of choice to coercion,” Republican Sen. Scott Bright said. “It not just unfair, it is undemocratic.”
Added Republican Sen. Barb Kirkmeyer, “If we’re here talking about employees and their rights, then employees should have the right to decide if this is deducted from their paycheck. They should have the right not to have to pay dues, maintenance fees, agency fees.”
Bright notes the Republican perspective that a union member might be funding the union’s political support for “which [the member] might oppose”. Bright’s position isn’t “anti-union, it is pro-employee,” he said.
Sen. Janice Rich, a Western Slope Republican and the minority party’s whip, noted 70% in a poll she didn’t clarify oppose the measure, with 87% on the political right and 72% who are unaffiliated opposed. She further detailed two-thirds of those 18-34 are in opposition and 70% of those ages 35-64 are opposed.
“I can understand why you would not want a ballot measure [going to voters] on this,” Rich said, adding two Grand Junction businesses are committed to leaving the state if the bill passes.
“The arguments just keep mounting against this bill,” said Eastern Plains Republican Sen. Rod Pelton. “This bill needs some work. In fact, it looks partisan so far.”
His cousin, Sen. Byron Pelton of Sterling, recalled a time when he was working as an electrician and had an opportunity to unionize.
“This is my money. I think it should stay on my paycheck and should be my choice what to do with it,” he shared.
Byron Pelton entered an amendment many termed reasonable which would have required unions with anyone refusing representation to provide that person financial justification for membership dues.
“I feel like unions should be fully transparent,” Republican Sen. Lisa Frizell said. “It is your money, and you should have a voice on how it is being spent.”
She notes employees already have the ability to unionize in Colorado.
The amendment was reasonable, Kirkmeyer concluded, because she asserts the report most likely already exists.
“How did they figure out what the fees should be if they didn’t already have a detailed report?,” she asked. “But, we think it is too much of a burden to tell the union, which already probably has it, to put together a report.”
Opposition to the amendment by Democrats was anti-transparency, many Republicans in the Senate said.
“Transparency is good for everyone,” Western Slope Sen. Marc Catlin said.
Frizell notes the Senate’s Business, Labor & Technology Committee that initially heard the bill also heard testimony from “predominantly unions” and “labor reps from all over the country”.
“It seems to me, we could find people who want to support this in the state, if we are serious about this,” Frizell said, noting a claim she heard that union members have a 17% higher rate of productivity. “There was even a statement that reproductive health depends on union organization.”
The bill creates an adversarial relationship between employees and employers, Lundeen says.
“There’s no company that doesn’t care about worker safety, that doesn’t care about productivity,” he said. “Don’t be misled.”
Added Catlin: “We’re trying to get people employed. We’re open for business. We want to keep the state open for business. I don’t want to see anything that would turn them away.”