Colorado lawmakers confirmed Friday that the best way to protect workers’ voices is to delete the second voice if it says something inconvenient.
House Bill 1005 is headed again to Gov. Jared Polis’ desk, where it will ask him for the second straight year to repeal Colorado’s requirement that workers hold a separate election before a union security agreement can force all employees in a unionized workplace to pay fees, whether they personally joined the union or not.
The first vote forms the union. The second vote asks whether everyone gets billed. Supporters have identified this as a dangerous outbreak of consent.
“Workers should not have to keep voting until they understand the financial consequences,” said one labor-policy expert wearing a lanyard heavy enough to qualify as a workplace hazard. “That kind of delay gives people time to read things, and historically that has been terrible for our coalition.”
Polis vetoed the same bill last year, saying mandatory dues deductions should require a high bar of participation and support, especially while Coloradans are getting financially waterboarded by groceries, housing, insurance, and the general cost of living in a state that still describes itself as affordable during fundraising emails.
This year, legislators sent it back anyway, proving that persistence is what happens when a bad idea has enough staff.
Supporters said Colorado’s Labor Peace Act is “creative union-busting” because it requires workers to survive not one but two elections before money can be taken from every paycheck. Critics said the bill does not actually govern whether workers can form a union, which is handled under federal law, but that clarification was immediately ruled hostile to the vibe.
“We are not eliminating democracy,” said a fictional Capitol source familiar with the talking points. “We are consolidating democracy into the one vote we can market cleanly. The second vote is just management propaganda with math.”
Republicans warned the change would make Colorado less attractive to businesses, with Sen. John Carson citing companies that have left or declined to relocate here. Democrats responded by explaining that businesses should be thrilled to operate in a state where every workplace disagreement can eventually become a mandatory deduction and a press conference about dignity.
Sen. Lisa Frizell proposed letting employees refuse union representation and avoid paying fees. Sen. Jessie Danielson said that would be illegal because unions must represent all workers once established, which is why the only fair solution is to make everyone pay after removing the vote about everyone paying.
It was debated on International Workers’ Day, because nothing honors labor quite like arguing over how many times workers are allowed to answer before the institution stops asking.
Sen. Julie Gonzales called the two-election requirement “Orwellian,” bravely naming the sinister authoritarian menace of a follow-up question.
The bill passed the Senate 23-12 on a party-line vote and now goes to Polis, who has again indicated he wants labor and business to compromise before he signs anything.
Colorado government remains committed to hearing every side.
Once.
Source: Colorado Politics
Just Stop It
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