Last November, Democrat Bill Ritter was elected Governor in politically conservative Colorado because he embraced a centrist agenda and vowed to bridge an ugly partisan divide in order to move Colorado ahead. His focus on practical issues attracted support from the business community, as well as labor unions.
Party leaders recognized the potential power of the uplifting tone being set by Ritter andother Western Democratic officials by awarding its next national convention to Denver. But then only days after Ritter’s inauguration the wheels began to come off of his centrist bi-partisan agenda as the Democrat majority in the Colorado legislature rushed through HB07-1072, a union-backed measure designed to expedite transfer of workers’ dues dollars from their paychecks directly into union treasuries. If Ritter means to keep his promise and set an example for Democrats nationally, he will veto this blatant special-interest bill.
There are two issues here. First, HB07-1072 repeals a Colorado law that says, once a company’s workers approve a union, there must be a second vote on whether union dues can be automatically assessed, with a 75 percent supermajority required for approval. Colorado has enjoyed substantial labor peace for decades in great part because of this provision. The 92 percent of Colorado workers who aren’t union members likely would be outraged if their right to a secret ballot supermajority is repealed by Democrat legislators doing unions’ bidding.
The second issue also has national implications. The AFL-CIO’s No. 1 priority is ending the secret ballot on representation elections nationwide. That’s the purpose of the Employee Free Choice Act of 2007 introduced yesterday by Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., with 230 co-sponsors. Miller’s bill replaces secret ballots with “check cards” allegedly signed by employees supporting unionization. Employees who decline to sign check cards become easy targets. Secret ballots protect employees against intimidation and are opposed only by those seeking a kind of totalitarian power over workplace freedoms.
Ritter shouldn’t be held accountable for the actions of congressional Democrats bent on doing the AFL-CIO’s bidding, but, by vetoing HB07-10872 in Colorado, he can strike a blow for genuine workplace democracy and against labor intimidation that will be heard nationwide.
