Face The State Staff Report
Colorado’s Labor Peace Act has created a kind of harmony between organized labor and business owners for the past 65 years, but recent political maneuvers by business leaders and union activists threaten to dismantle the old law.
“Right now, Colorado is a hybrid between closed shop and right-to-work,” explains Sen. Ted Harvey, R-Highlands Ranch. In closed shops, employees must join the union, or at least pay the costs of union representation, otherwise risk being fired. Right-to-work legislation prohibits union dues as a mandatory condition of employment.
Currently, the LPA allows for a two-step process in which first hold an election on exclusive union representation, then vote again for a more restrictive, mandatory union presence. The bar for passage on the first vote is set very low, requiring only a majority of workers casting ballots to vote for union representation. The requirements mean that under a scenario where 1,000 employees work for one business, just 600 would need to return their ballots, and the union would need only 301 votes in order to claim victory. The second vote, conducted by secret ballot, requires majority approval of all employees eligible to vote. After a successful second vote, a workplace is considered a "union shop" and employees may be required to either pay union dues or submit similar payments dubbed "agency fees" in lieu of full membership.
Attempts to dismantle the LPA came to a head during the 2007 legislative session when unions asked lawmakers to sponsor House Bill 1072. The Democrat-backed proposal would have removed a section of the LPA, thus making it easier for a workplace to become a union shop.
“The fact of the matter is that [in recent years] unions have been politically successful and they’re using the power of government to increase their power to unionize,” said Preston Oade, an attorney with Holme Roberts and Owen, a firm specializing in labor and employment law.
More than 250 people testified against HB 1072 in committee, however, and Senate Republicans staged an eight-hour filibuster. While the bill survived the legislature, it was ultimately vetoed by Gov. Bill Ritter, a Democrat, who was under immense pressure from the business community to do so.
“It was so controversial, that even Ritter, who is in bed with the unions, bowed to the pressure and vetoed 1072,” said Harvey, who helped spearhead the filibuster.
With unions serving as the key fundraising source for state Democrats, Republicans now fear that as long as Democrats maintain control of the General Assembly, the Labor Peace Act remains vulnerable to union efforts to tinker or dismantle it.
Oade said HB-1072 made business leaders realize unions have the power to overturn the LPA whenever they want. In the coming session, Oade predicts that all eyes will be on Ritter, who remains vulnerable given heavy labor contributions to his 2006 gubernatorial bid.
Republicans are taking preemptive action of their own, working with business owners and prominent party leaders, including former U.S. Sen. Hank Brown and Aurora City Councilman Ryan Frazier, to support Amendment 47, a right-to-work measure seeking to prohibit mandatory union dues as a condition of employment. If Amendment 47 passes, it will override the Labor Peace Act, which is only statutory. If it doesn’t, labor leaders have said they may, once again, ask lawmakers for “tweaks” to the LPA. Republicans have a battle on their hands either way, as polling shows that support for Amendment 47 remains vulnerable to a multi-million dollar labor-funded opposition campaign.
Mike Cerbo, executive director of the Colorado AFL-CIO, did not return Face The State’s request for an interview.
Sen. Jennifer Veiga, D-Denver, a co-sponsor of HB 1072, along with former Rep. Michael Garcia, says she has not been approached about sponsoring anything that goes after the LPA. “If right-to-work passes, will there be an effort by the legislature to do other things? I don’t know. Maybe. But I think people are pretty cautious about doing something with that issue,” she said.
There is also the possibility that unions will wait to see what happens nationally before trying once more to take apart the LPA. If Democrats are able to achieve a supermajority in the U.S. Senate and Barack Obama is elected president, Republicans fear the Employee Free Choice Act could be reintroduced. The measure passed the U.S. House of Representatives in 2007, but Democrats couldn't end a Republican filibuster against it in the Senate. The bill would have eliminated secret ballots in favor of a "card-check" system that employee-rights activists say would have led to intimidation of workers by union leaders.
The EFCA has become an issue in the Colorado Senate race between Rep. Mark Udall, D-Eldorado Springs, and Republican Bob Schaffer. Udall voted in favor of the bill, while Schaffer has said he strongly opposes it because secret ballot elections are at the heart of the American political system.
Oade says legislation like EFCA would potentially override the vote required by the LPA, allowing unions to use the card check system and making the second vote easier for the unions. “All of these issues are about altering the current balance of power between labor and management,” he said, adding that he personally hopes the LPA remains intact.
"Who doesn't like balance?" he asked.