Posts tagged Denver
VIDEO: King Soopers, union agree to two-week contract extension
January 5, 2025 // “Workers are tired. They have been so overworked and really disregarded through this whole attempted merger that failed,” said Cordova. King Soopers representatives said they are prioritizing their commitment to invest in their associates with an improved wage offer, which shows that top-rate clerks would receive a 5.41% increase during their first year of the contract. A company spokesperson said their latest negotiation offer also removed a proposal to reset hours in the wage scale, which would allow employees to keep their hours within their progression as they move over.
Commentary: Ballot Measure 2U: Expanding collective bargaining rights to more Denver city employees
October 15, 2024 // Right now, only firefighters, police and DPS teachers can negotiate as part of a union. Should library workers and others be allowed to?
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."
Proposal giving most Denver employees collective bargaining rights moves forward
June 7, 2024 // Public safety officers, career service employees of the Denver Health and Hospital Authority, employees with managerial duties and hiring capacities, and certain political appointees would be excluded from collective bargaining under the proposal. What's next: If voters approve the measure, it would go into effect on May 1, 2025. Denver would join cities like Detroit, Seattle and Portland with similar rights for its municipal staff if successful
Commentary: For Teachers’ Unions, Strikes Are the New Normal
February 19, 2024 // Meanwhile, students trapped in blue states – or blue cities – effectively run by teachers’ union political power, remained hostages to the demands of even more funding, hazard pay, increased “teacher work periods,” etc. In many cases, the demands even included political concessions like guaranteed housing and expanding Medicare for All. Don’t forget: Some teachers’ unions had to issue reminders for teachers not to post vacation pictures while the schools were closed. Because let’s call a spade a spade: The teachers’ unions used the COVID pandemic as history’s largest and longest strike, during which they tried to exact concessions they would have never achieved at a normal negotiating table.
Denver Art Museum workers will form union to combat wage, safety concerns
January 16, 2024 // Denver Art Museum officials confirmed that they received a request this morning for voluntary recognition of a union from “some members of its staff.” “The museum is aware that unionization among museums has been occurring more frequently in the US and is open to working with its employees to explore the best path forward,” wrote communications manager Andy Sinclair. “If unionization is the path they choose, the museum will work within that system.
UAW widens strike against GM and Stellantis but not Ford
September 24, 2023 // GM called the strike escalation “unnecessary” and accused union leaders of “manipulating the bargaining process for their own personal agendas.” “We have now presented five separate economic proposals that are historic,” the company said. The 20 percent raise in its latest offer would boost 85 percent of GM’s UAW workforce to base-wage earnings of $82,000 a year by the end of the contract, the company said this week. It is also offering two weeks of paid parental leave and other perks. Stellantis said it submitted a new offer to the UAW on Thursday but has not received a reply. It said its 20 percent wage increase offer would boost all its full-time UAW workers to earnings of $80,000 to $96,000 annually by the end of the contract. The company questioned “whether the union’s leadership has ever had an interest in reaching an agreement in a timely manner.”
Teamsters Union Local #455 Settles EEOC Sexual Harassment Case
July 14, 2023 // After first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process, the EEOC filed suit in U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Teamsters Local Union #455, Civil Action No.: 1:22-cv-2520-DDD-KLM), alleging that the union, through its agent, had violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits sexual harassment in the workplace. Under the consent decree resolving the suit, Teamsters Local #455 will review and update its anti-discrimination policies to include a strong and clear commitment to preventing unlawful sex discrimination (including sexual harassment). The union will also provide training to its officers, agents, and employees, and will post an informational flyer about workplace sex harassment at its Colorado office locations and on union bulletin boards at employer business locations where members of Local #455 are employed.
Meow Wolf workers in Denver unionize, get contract
June 22, 2023 // The Meow Wolf union is an affiliate of the Communications Workers of America. Denver Meow Wolf employees formally issued an intent to unionize in July 2022 and 70% of employees voted approval to join the union. Two bargaining units were formed for operations and security staff, union member Michael Wilson told The New Mexican. The four-year contract provides increases in wages, more paid time off, layoff protections, union participation in hiring, clear and consistent scheduling, a better-regimented employee review process and institutes progressive discipline and grievance procedures, Wilson said. Meow Wolf employees in Santa Fe unionized in 2020 with a contract ratified in April 2022, but the agreement didn't include Meow Wolf employees in Denver and Las Vegas, Nev.