Editorial: Polis is right. Let’s find a compromise that preserves the Labor Peace Act.

Gov. Jared Polis is right to promise a veto on Senate Bill 5 unless a compromise is found between unions and businesses that can be carried forward by lawmakers looking to make it easier for unions to organize labor in Colorado.

Forcing an agreement on any changes to the Labor Peace Act is essential for Colorado as we navigate this turbulent political and economic time.

Unions are already active in Colorado, but union leaders say a provision of the 1943 Labor Peace Act that requires a second vote – with a 75% threshold — to collect “union fees” is stifling the hard work of organizing employees so they can join a union and collectively bargain for better pay, working conditions and benefits.

Of course, employers point out that workers can already organize with a single vote of 50% and collect from every employee’s paycheck who joins the union, “union dues” that are used to cover the costs of the union’s work representing workers during collective bargaining. Employees should be the ones to decide if “union fees” are also taken from every employee’s hard-earned paycheck, whether they join the union or not.

Colorado Democrats are proposing that the state’s law be updated to allow unions to collect “fees” without a second vote of the union to approve the non-bargaining activities.

Big unions are less likely to come into Colorado to help workers organize than they are to spend time in states where a single vote also authorizes the union fees, which are seen as essential for funding big-union activities that include things like lobbying for a change to the Labor Peace Act.

Unions have a compelling argument for change. Colorado workers could use a little negotiating on their behalf. Having a union represent your interests in bargaining is proven to lead to better wages and benefits.

Businesses also are correct to protect workers from possibly unnecessary dues and fees. There should be a very high threshold for workers to decide they want money withdrawn from their paycheck and those of their colleagues whether or not they join the union.

Hence why Polis is wisely calling for a compromise. Polis said Speaker of the House Julie McCluskie is working to get everyone to the negotiating table with the sponsors of House Bill 5. Sen. Robert Rodriguez, Sen. Jessie Danielson, Rep. Javier Mabrey, and Rep. Jennifer Bacon can still help unions organizing workers in Colorado without upsetting the delicate balance.

Polis says he won’t sign the bill as proposed because it eliminates a second vote. Instead, he has proposed the threshold for the second vote be lowered to something more reasonable like a simple majority or even just a supermajority – 60%. He said he’s open to anything at this point.

The governor also has pledged to work with the Department of Labor to expedite the second vote, so workers aren’t subjected to union-busting activities between the first vote and second vote that could sway them against supporting “union dues.” Polis said he thinks the state can get the administrative time down to 45 days.

We’ll go a step further and say the state needs to get more aggressive at cracking down on illegal union busting activities like the intimidation and retaliation tactics we heard an employee from Starbucks describe. As she worked to organize her colleagues her hours were cut, she lost benefits and feared she would lose her job.

A second vote only prolongs the amount of time workers can be subjected to that bad behavior and clearly state and federal law aren’t doing enough to discourage bad behavior. But a second vote also gives members of a newly formed union time to research how a union spends dues and decide if it is worth the cut to their paycheck.

In America, workers are guaranteed the right to organize. The federal law protects collective bargaining to level the playing field between employers and employees. Just last week on these pages we published a detailed analysis of how the decline of America’s middle class has occurred simultaneously to the decline in union membership.

Colorado is the only middle-ground state in the nation with its union laws. All the other states are either anti-union “right-to-work states” that prohibit unions from collecting mandatory fees or they are pro-union states that guarantee what is called “union security” by allowing unions to collect fees that are automatically withdrawn from every employee’s paycheck.

Instead, in the middle of World War II, Colorado unions struck a grand bargain with employers, requiring a second separate election and setting a higher threshold for unions to be able to charge employees union fees. Lawmakers overwhelmingly approved the proposal.

That bargain seems to have worked. Let’s tweak it to address complaints but not lose the Colorado Way entirely.

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