Posts tagged Colorado
Feeding the Kitty
September 30, 2024 // Unions have pursued shareholder resolutions asking for a “free and fair election process,” meaning card check and neutrality. They have also sought to pass resolutions demanding audits of a company’s labor practices. It’s not hard to see how a future resolution could explicitly try to prohibit companies from using independent contractors.
New labor union on brink of forming in Colorado Springs
August 27, 2024 // A labor union that represents some 7,000 licensed doctors and advanced-practice clinicians nationwide is on the cusp of forming in Colorado Springs. Leaders of the Union of American Physicians and Dentists announced during a press conference Monday that they had at that minute submitted a filing with the National Labor Relations Board, an independent federal agency, to trigger organized unionization for providers at 20 medical clinics of Peak Vista Community Health Centers in the region.
State of the unions: 8 facts you need to know about unions in Colorado
August 8, 2024 // Colorado is a modified “right to work” state because, under the state’s Labor Peace Act, workplaces with unions may hold a second election to become an all-union workplace. If at least 75% of eligible workers approve its Labor Peace Act election, the workplace becomes all-union, meaning every worker must join the union and pay dues. The act was passed in 1943 as a compromise between unions and business owners. In 2023 and 2024 to date, nine Labor Peace Act elections have been held — six won and three lost, according to the Colorado Fiscal Institute.
Thousands of Colorado janitors vote to authorize strike: “Denver depends on us, and we need livable wages”
July 25, 2024 // "Anybody downtown or in these large commercial building areas, they're going to see and feel our membership," said Felix-Sowy. "The strike is going to affect those buildings and our members are going to be very strategic about which buildings they take out on strike, and where that impact is going to be felt."
Ban on ‘captive audience’ meetings, AI regulations among 466 Ill. bills to pass this session
June 4, 2024 // If the “captive audience” bill is signed by the governor, employers would still be allowed to discuss religion and politics with employees, but workers would have the right to skip the meeting, whether on or off the clock, without retaliation. The Illinois AFL-CIO labor organization brought the legislation to state Sen. Robert Peters, D-Chicago, and celebrated its passage as a win for workers. In a news release, Illinois AFL-CIO President Tim Drea said the meetings “are a direct violation of workers’ rights.”
Douglas County files lawsuit challenging legality of unionization in sheriff’s office
May 10, 2024 // Prior to the lawsuit, the county also argued that the FOP misled employees, leading them to believe the sheriff supported unionization efforts when he did not. “This trickery by the union caused many employees to sign their names in support of a union because they were falsely led to believe Sheriff Weekly supported it,” county Commissioner George Teal alleged in a video message. The sheriff’s office provided the News-Press the letter that Teal apparently referred to. “In the spirit of transparency and support, I met with Sheriff Weekly to share the survey results and discuss our proposed course of action. Sheriff Weekly expressed his continued support for us and the FOP,” said the letter, signed as “president” of the local FOP branch. Also before the lawsuit, the local police union accused Weekly and other Douglas County officials of engaging in unfair labor practices during the unionization efforts.
Opinion: Demand more from CT public sector union officials
April 15, 2024 // As soon as you’re hired, the state sends your contact information, including your home address, to a union you’ve never joined and to union officials you’ve never met. The union also has the right to meet with you for at least 30 minutes, even one-on-one, to ensure you join and start paying dues. After that, every three months, union officials can get your updated personal phone numbers and email address from the state agency where you work, regardless of whether you become a union member. If you can withstand union officials’ high-pressure marketing pitch, you may face coercion once on the job.
What’s Working: Why unionizing in Colorado, a modified-right-to-work state, sees limited success
March 13, 2024 // The Peace Act rules require three-quarters of eligible workers to participate in a second vote, if they already successfully voted in an NLRB election. Without it, the union has less bite since it doesn’t represent all eligible workers and cannot collect dues from those who don’t join. The NLRB’s vote needs just a simple majority. “This is where it gets kooky,” said Alejo R. González, political and community coordinator at Service Employees International Union Local 105 in Denver. “So you could literally win the vote 55 to zero and still lose because you didn’t get 75% of the people to vote. That 75% turnout is insane. It’s hard to get that many people to vote. … And a lot of companies won’t start bargaining until that happens.”
How the Kroger-Albertsons merger could impact union workers, if it happens
March 5, 2024 // Antitrust experts have said that if the FTC lawsuit derails the merger, it could set a new precedent. It could also help cement the power of unions in the grocery industry and enable them to organize other workplaces. Perhaps more importantly, it goes beyond the more immediate concerns associated with a merger—such as layoffs—and raises broader questions about the long-term effects of undermining the right to strike for unionized workers. “I think it shows an innovative and creative approach,” Lieberwitz says. “The FTC’s concerns are, of course, broader, but this is a response that looks at the ways in which unionized workforces are essential to the welfare of labor and the labor market.”
COLORADO: Stephen Varela investigated for alleged misuse of union funds
February 23, 2024 // When Stephen Varela became president in 2016 of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 2430 in southern Colorado, former union officers say one of the first things he did was ask the bank for a debit card for the union’s account. Local 2430, a union representing U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs employees, explicitly states in its bylaws that its president and treasurer must both sign checks covering any union expenditures. That way there can be oversight of union money and how it’s spent. Debit cards are not normally allowed.