Posts tagged Colorado
Commentary: Why Are Union Officials So Comfortable Stealing From Their Own Members?
June 8, 2026 // That’s why we’re highlighting legislation like Iowa Senate File 472, championed by Iowa State Senator Adrian Dickey. The legislation requires public-sector unions to obtain affirmative consent from workers before deducting union dues from their paychecks and to renew that authorization on a regular basis. Workers must actively opt in rather than being treated as automatic revenue sources. The measure strengthens transparency, reinforces worker choice, and ensures unions maintain the support of the people whose paychecks fund them. Organizations that serve their members well have nothing to fear from accountability. Accountability strengthens trust. It forces leaders to remain responsive to the people they represent. Union members deserve the same protections, transparency, and financial safeguards that shareholders expect from corporations and taxpayers expect from government.
Goldwater Institute: Embracing the Future: Say No to Driver-in Mandates
June 4, 2026 // If an autonomous truck cannot operate safely, it should not be on the road. But if it can operate safely without a human driver, requiring one anyway does not improve safety. It simply raises costs, slows deployment, and forces consumers to pay more. The United States has never prospered by forcing new technology to imitate the old system it improves upon. Policymakers should allow autonomous vehicles and trucking to develop under clear, evidence-based safety rules. They should not revive the logic of railroad featherbedding for the age of artificial intelligence. Autonomous vehicles should be judged by their safety and performance, not by whether they preserve the labor arrangements of the past. The future of freight should be faster, safer, and less expensive. Policymakers should let it arrive.
Colorado governor vetoes union dues bill — again
May 31, 2026 // Gov. Jared Polis on May 29 again vetoed legislation that would have made it easier for labor organizations to impose dues on non-union members, a decision long expected after the legislature approved the measure without securing the buy-in of businesses. Polis rejected a similar proposal last year, and cited the same reason: that, if enacted, the bill would allow a simple majority of employees who choose to unionize to “also determine that dues could be mandatorily taken from all workers.”
Disregard for students showcased in Sheridan teacher strike
May 27, 2026 // The Sheridan teachers did have a legal right to strike, but not a morally justifiable one. They seriously disrupted the lives of innocent schoolchildren and their parents, holding them hostage to the union’s demands. When a grocery union strikes, customers can do business elsewhere. However, teachers are government employees within a school district that has a monopoly on publicly-funded education. And unlike private sector employers, Colorado school boards can refuse to allow a union. In 2012, a new Republican majority on the Douglas County School Board decertified its teacher union when the collective-bargaining agreement expired. (A new Democrat majority on the DougCo school board will likely welcome the union back with open arms.)
Cargill locks out more than 1,700 union workers from Colorado meat plant
May 21, 2026 // The beef plant has skidded to a standstill during a time when consumer complaints about high beef prices are growing. The slaughterhouse in northeast Colorado takes in live cattle and ships out boxed beef, and the union said the plant is pivotal for the local economy. Cargill reported base wages at the plant are $23.50, up from $15.35 in 2018.
Colorado Senate passes Labor Peace Act overhaul, sends bill to governor
May 7, 2026 // The Democratic governor has said since before this year’s introduction of House Bill 1005 that he’s very likely to veto the bill, as he did in 2025 over concerns that it doesn’t represent consensus between business and labor and could hurt Colorado’s economy. The fact that union and employer representatives haven’t sat down with him to negotiate a potential compromise — something they did last year — reinforces the notion that Polis has no inclination to take a different tact to what would be a major shift in state labor policy.
Key labor bill clears Colorado legislature, faces governor’s veto for second year in a row
May 6, 2026 // The bill would repeal an 80-year-old unionization rule unique to Colorado that mandates workers hold a second election before their union can operate, following a simple majority vote to unionize in the first place. In the second election, a three-quarters majority of a company’s workers must sign off in order to negotiate labor matters as a union. Under a union security agreement, every employee must contribute union fees regardless if they are a union member.
JBS faces another US strike
April 28, 2026 // The dispute comes after JBS reached a separate wage agreement with workers in Greeley, Colorado earlier this month, which included base wage increases and one-time bonuses but no retroactive pay. Under that deal, base wages will rise by $0.70 at ratification, followed by $0.40 in July this year and $0.40 in July 2027. The agreement includes no provision for retroactive pay.
Colorado meat workers to end strike, return to work without new contract
April 6, 2026 // The standoff between the JBS-owned meat packing plant in Greeley and its employees appears to be ending after three weeks. Saturday, the company and the labor union representing the approximately 3,800 workers who work there announced the workers would return to work at 5 a.m. Tuesday. The union and workers agreed to return to work after the company agreed to return for two days of face-to-face contract negotiations beginning April 9
‘This is us continuing that work’: Colorado lawmakers reintroduce bill to make forming unions easier
March 26, 2026 // Legislation to consolidate unionizing in Colorado from a two-election process to a one-election process is back, but will Governor Polis approve this year’s version? Last year, lawmakers passed SB25-005, which sponsors said would make it easier for workers to unionize and thus would raise wages. The new version of this bill, HB26-1005, largely does the same thing.