Most of state workers vote to unionize

   DENVER - More than twothirds of Colorado's 32,000 state employees voted overwhelmingly to form unions, setting up expected battles over pay and health care benefits.

    State workers in five of eight "labor groups" voted to be represented by Colorado Wins, a coalition of three work force unions. About 7,140 of the 21,000 in the five groups cast ballots in the election. The results were announced Wednesday.

    Gov. Bill Ritter signed an executive order in November creating employee "partnerships" in which they can be represented by a union and negotiate with management.

    Colorado State Patrol troopers already voted to form a union and two other groups are gathering signatures to hold elections.

    Workers will meet soon to vote on dues and decide which issues they want to tackle first with management, said Karen Esau, an administrative assistant at the University of Colorado at Denver who helped organize the election.

    "We haven't had good health care and we haven't had raises and our chance for advancement is not as great as it once was," Esau said of workers' concerns. "(The margin of victory) speaks toward: ‘We want a voice with everybody else at the table.'"

    Republican lawmakers have said letting state workers unionize will drive up the cost of state government.

    One of the biggest union opponents repeated that Wednesday after hearing workers' calls for better pay and health care.

    Rep. Kent Lambert, R-Colorado Springs, also questioned whether the "yes" votes of 5,700 out of 21,000 employees fairly represent the desires of all state workers.

    "This was, I think, the direction that the Ritter administration wanted to go with this," Lambert said.

    Negotiations could begin as soon as next month.

    CONTACT THE WRITER: (303) 837-0613 or ed.sealover@gazette.com