A contentious proposal to change a provision of Colorado’s labor law is nearing a final collision point, with Gov. Jared Polis continuing to gesture at a veto and a new ballot measure ratcheting up pressure on negotiations between union and business leaders.
Senate Bill 5 is now one vote away from the House floor, where it’s expected to pass and then face an uncertain fate on Polis’ desk. The bill would remove a unique piece of Colorado law that requires unions to pass two elections — the second requiring a higher threshold — before workers can negotiate a part of their contracts that govern dues and fees. The measure has been near-universally backed by Democrats, including by state legislators, five former U.S. labor secretaries and two of Colorado’s Democratic congresswomen.
But it’s been opposed by the business community and by Polis, who has privately threatened a veto. In a news conference last week, the governor didn’t directly invoke that specter, though he reiterated his desire for a deal and his support for the state’s labor status quo.
Negotiations aimed at a deal are ongoing, both sides said, and the bill is unlikely to reach the floor in the next week. It first must pass through the House Appropriations Committee after winning an earlier committee vote, but a vote had not been scheduled yet.
The two sides also have entered something of a new phase: As the bill nears the finish line, the AFL-CIO has introduced a ballot measure that, if passed, would require Colorado employers to have “just cause” to fire their workers. Under current law, Colorado — like every state but Montana — is an at-will state, meaning employees can generally be fired for any — or no — reason not related to discrimination or other existing protections.
The initiative was filed with the legislature earlier this month — the first step in a long road to next year’s ballot. But its filing represents a larger goal for unions and a deeper threat to businesses than the union elections bill: While labor advocates argue that the second union election is a needless impediment to union negotiations, the just-cause protections sought by the initiative would place a much firmer restriction on business operations.
“I think you’re going to see more and more emphasis on workers’ rights initiatives on the ballot at the state level, especially with what’s going on at the federal level,” said Dennis Dougherty, the executive director of the Colorado AFL-CIO, referring to President Donald Trump’s return to office.
He said the just-cause restriction was “a policy we’ve had our eye on for quite some time.”
Loren Furman, the president and CEO of the Colorado Chamber of Commerce, said Friday that she interpreted the ballot measure both as a legitimate desire of labor unions and as a negotiating tool to ensure SB-5 is passed into law.
“It was pretty alarming when it was filed,” she said of the ballot proposal. “It would have a very, very significant impact on employers — all private sector employers across the state.”
She said Dougherty pledged to withdraw the ballot measure if an acceptable deal was reached on SB-5. Dougherty confirmed that the proposal would be pulled back “if we can find something that meets the interests of workers.”
But Dougherty said the labor groups also wanted a competing ballot measure — an anti-union proposal to make Colorado a “right-to-work” state, which would bar negotiated requirements that workers pay union dues and fees — to be withdrawn. That proposal is being backed by Jon Caldara, the president of the Independence Institute, a libertarian-conservative think tank in Denver.
If the right-to-work proposal advances, Dougherty said, then the just-cause measure would be “the first of many” from labor unions. Pointing to Caldara’s public statements, Furman said his measure would be taken down, too, if an SB-5 deal was reached. The business community has not introduced any ballot measures of its own.
The ballot-box arms race, then, hinges on the fate of SB-5 — and on Polis’ veto pen.
But it’s unclear if a grand compromise will materialize. The business community has made three offers that have included proposals to expedite union elections and to make it easier for workers to pass the second election, which SB-5 now seeks to eliminate, Furman said.
Dougherty and Rep. Javier Mabrey, one of the bill’s sponsors, both declined to comment this week on the negotiations or what the bill’s supporters may agree to, other than to say conversations were underway and happening in good faith.
“Any deal has to be something that labor and the labor organizations feel like is a meaningful movement of the ball forward,” Mabrey said. Negotiators have also included representatives of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce and Colorado Concern, which was also heavily involved in previous ballot-box standoffs related to property taxes.
Supporters are adamant that the bill has the votes to pass, with or without a deal — and say they’re prepared to send the bill unchanged to Polis’ desk. Pressed by reporters last week, the governor wouldn’t say what he would do should that happen.
“As we indicated from the start, I remain open to a solution that brings workers and businesses to the table in a way that’s stable for the state,” he said.
Furman said the negotiations — and the growing threat of renewed ballot wars — put “a lot of pressure on the governor on what to do.”
Democrats have sought to frame the fight as a referendum on the direction of the party. They’ve enlisted outside forces — like the five previous labor secretaries, including Robert Reich from the Clinton administration and Marty Walsh from the Biden administration — to put pressure on the governor. Labor groups plan to rally outside the Capitol on Wednesday and deliver “thousands” of postcards to Polis’ office calling on him to sign the bill into law.
A veto would be “a massive mistake at a time when Democratic Party popularity is at all-time lows and union popularity is near all-time highs,” Mabrey said. “That would be a weird way for the governor to go.”
But should Polis veto SB-5, the lawmaker said, Democrats and unions will just wait him out.
Polis has fewer than two years left in the governor’s office, and so far the only Democrat in the race to succeed him — Attorney General Phil Weiser — was present at SB-5’s unveiling in November. So, too, was another potential candidate: Secretary of State Jena Griswold.
“If the rumors are true and Michael Bennet’s running for governor — Michael Bennet was a vocal supporter of the PRO Act, which goes quite a bit further than what we’re trying to do here,” Mabrey said Tuesday, referring to the U.S. senator’s support of pro-labor congressional legislation. “I’m confident that Michael Bennet would sign it if we’re unable to get it done this year.”
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