Nov 15, 2007 3:11 PM
When Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter vetoed legislation in late 2006 that he himself had campaigned on to grant bargaining rights to 32,000-plus state workers, he won the enmity of the state’s unions. He also risked having Democrats pull their 2008 national convention out of Denver or, if the convention proceeded, seeing street demonstrations by delegates. But any bad feeling was put aside when Ritter signed a Nov. 2 executive order giving unions for state workers official recognition and bargaining powers.
The executive order falls short of a workers’ Magna Carta. It does not give state employees traditional collective-bargaining power and it comes with a no-strike policy, while its “partnership agreements,” not contracts, will not include binding arbitration in the event of impasses. Worse, as an executive order it can be easily be overturned by a future conservative administration and the Legislature must approve monies agreed to in bargaining.
Still, it was too much for business leaders who blasted the move, as did The Denver Post in a front page editorial. The paper wrote: “When Coloradans elected Bill Ritter as governor they thought they were getting a modern-day version of Roy Romer, a pro-business Democrat. Instead, they got Jimmy Hoffa … his plan [will] drive up the cost of doing business in Colorado by forcing collective bargaining on thousands of state employees … Ritter campaigned under the guise of a moderate ‘new Democrat’ but now we know he’s simply a toady to labor bosses and the old vestiges of his party — a bag man for unions and special interests … [who] has squandered his future in order to keep his backroom promises to a few union bosses.”
And you thought the New York Post editorial writers were over the top?
But unlike the view from the corporate Colorado mountain top, state unions see Ritter’s move as a healthy next step and a foretaste of what the labor-management terrain will look like nationally should Democrats win the White House and increase their majorities in Congress.
Among legislation unions will push for: the Employee Free Choice Act, which would make forming unions easier; restrictions on so-called free-trade pacts; raising corporate taxes and passing universal health care. The key roadblock for labor-friendly laws, observers say, will remain the Senate, which vastly over-represents union-unfriendly, rural states and where a super-majority of 60 is required to overcome filibusters.
The Denver Post, Nov. 5
Reuters, Nov. 4