Editorial: Worker Protection Act could mean another paycheck deduction for low-income Coloradans reeling from unprecedented inflation

Colorado is gearing up for a major labor showdown in 2025.

The question is simple: How easy should it be for unions to set up “closed shops” in this state where monthly union representation fees are automatically deducted from every employee’s paycheck?

Right now, an old state law – the Labor Peace Act — requires a 75% vote of employees to give a newly formed union the power to bargain for the union’s financial security. That security often comes in the form of negotiated union membership and union representation fees that are withdrawn monthly.

Closed-shop unions are crucial in collective bargaining, experts say, because otherwise, the union has no teeth and no power to demand better wages, benefits, worker safety, and sometimes full-time employment.

Unions are big businesses that have their own staff, their own experts, and can fight back against corporate executives. These mega-unions are also raking in millions of dollars from employee paychecks and have little oversight on their spending and lobbying.

Don’t let the spin doctors convince you this fight is about anything other than one big business — unions — wanting to get an advantage over their corporate adversaries and grow their footprint. All we can hope for is that somewhere in this battle of well-funded Davids and endlessly resourced Goliaths workers come out on the winning side.

The C-suites at America’s corporations – both big and small — have a fiduciary responsibility to maximize profits to investors, boards, or owners by minimizing expenses (wages and benefits) and maximizing revenue (sales or investments). A skilled and experienced union representative with collective bargaining powers can push back on that formula by making the case that lower wages will cost the company more in a difficult labor dispute than it will in paying their employees a living wage.

The battle over this change is sure to be fierce. Gov. Jared Polis’ staff told The Denver Post that the Democratic governor is “leery” of making union financial security easier to obtain. Polis vetoed two pro-union bills during the last legislative session and faced significant backlash.

We’re still waiting for the introduced version of the proposed Worker Protection Act to see if it strikes the right balance, but we also have concerns.

Polis should come to the table with an open mind about how employees can and cannot attain fair compensation in a modern-day global economy. State leaders are understandably nervous about making Colorado more union-friendly and enraging company leaders.

Unions backing the Worker Protection Act should come ready to negotiate with those who are understandably skeptical about adding another paycheck deduction for low-income workers who are still reeling from a time of unprecedented inflation.

Twenty-seven states have banned union security agreements — Americans still have the right to organize and bargain collectively in these states but just without mandatory representation fees. These states are disingenuously called “right-to-work” states as though anyone would not take a job they needed over a 1% or even a 2% union representation fee.

Colorado is a modified “right-to-work” state where 75% of employees are required to vote in favor of allowing a union to negotiate for union dues and fees while they are bargaining for better pay, benefits and working conditions.

This means Colorado is a risky place for large unions to invest time and money to organizing labor. A union may get 50% of employees to agree to join a union but fail to get 75% of employees to agree to let that union close the shop and require every employee to pay fees from their paycheck.

Coloradans should keep three truths in mind as we head into this labor fight with the backdrop of a growing populist movement fueled by the cost of living and income disparities. First, workers benefit from collective bargaining negotiations with higher wages, better working conditions, and more benefits.

Second, union dues and fees are expensive reductions to worker’s paychecks that too often fund the lavish lifestyles of union leaders making hundreds of thousands of dollars more than the employees they represent.

Third, business leaders will say they will no longer be able to do business in Colorado because of the new pro-union stance. And some of them might make good on that threat. Unions can harm a company especially those that are already operating on very thin profit margins.

Workers shouldn’t be stuck in the middle of this fight, but they are. Laborers must pay one mega-organization to push another conglomerate to pay them better wages. Between the push of union dues and the pull of business profit margins (which in some industries are quite small), we hope Coloradans can eke out a bit more pay, a bit more time off, and better access to affordable health care.

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