By Jesse Russell

To fight a Colorado bill that would make it easier for unions to collect dues, business is considering a push to make the Centennial state a so-called right-to-work state. Employers are upset with House Bill 1072, which would eliminate a second vote that typically takes place before all of a company's employees have to pay dues as a condition of employment. Business sees the bill as an opportunity to launch a union busting counter initiative that would amend the state Constitution to allow workers the option of financially supporting a union or not.

By Jesse Russell

[Johnson]: TABOR has failed to strengthen Colorado’s economy.
That was Nicholas Johnson with the Center for Budget Policy and Priorities concerning the Taxpayer Bill of Rights. Various versions of a Colorado amendment dubbed TABOR are being considered across the country this year. Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona and Oregon join eight other states in looking at legislation modeled after Colorado’s limit to state taxes and expenditures. A new report from the Center on Budget Policy Priorities suggests that Colorado’s rapid economic performance in recent years was not due to the TABOR. In fact, the residents of Colorado voted to suspend the law after the quality of public services began to decline. Therese McGuire, a coauthor of the report said their study shows that what really drove the state’s economy was the highly educated workforce and investment in information technologies - resulting from investments made in the 1940s.

A complaint has been filed with the National Labor Relations Board concerning unfair labor practices at a Colorado storage company. The Service Employees International Union filed the complaint on behalf of janitors at Storage Technology Corporation. The facility is run by the American Facilities Maintenance Group, who is accused of threatening the jobs of workers who wish to organize. The complaint alleges that janitors were told they had to sign an anti-union petition or risk termination.

The city of Denver has seen union membership jump by 50 percent over the last year. Much of the increase has been attributed to the Teamsters who launched a massive organizing campaign of nonuniformed municipal employees in 2004. The increase could give the city's unions the leverage to put collective bargaining on Denver's ballot. Nonuniformed workers are also represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees as well as the Colorado Federation of Public Employees. The unions say that collective bargaining will give employees more say in their fate when it comes to benefits and pay. Critics say it will constrain the ability to the city to balance the budget by taking power away from policymakers.

The path has been cleared for a judge to hear a class-action sexual discrimination complaint filed by female employees at the U.S. Mint. Filed by 32 female employees, the complaint alleges that managers at the Denver based mint used discrimination when considering job assignments, discipline, promotions and terminations. In addition, the suit says women were subjected to a hostile working environment of sexual harassment. Damages for emotional abuse are expected to reach nearly $300,000 per employee. The Treasury Department filed for an appeal that was denied by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Monday.

800 workers at a meat packing plant in Colorado are being laid off today. The workers at the Swift and Company plant in Greeley are losing their jobs 11 days before a contract with ConAgra Foods expires. The plant is the largest provider of jobs in Greeley, which is located in the already struggling Weld County. Even before the lay-offs were announced, United Way reported that it receives about 50 calls a day from people seeking assistance and the county food bank can barely keep up with the demand. The plant says that some workers could be rehired within 18 months as it begins to produce new meat products.

The National Labor Relations Board will hear a case today concerning Wal-Mart auto shop workers who have expressed interest in forming a union. Nine of 17 workers at the Wal-Mart Supercenter Tire and Lube Express in Loveland, Colorado submitted cards to the board. The attempt at organizing a small part of the store indicates a new strategy by the United Food and Commercial Workers in getting through the anti-union wall of the world's largest retail chain. The union insists that the auto shop is separate from the rest of the store and can therefore organize. When meat cutters at a Wal-Mart store in Texas won union certification in 2000, the company reacted by closing all of it's meat cutting departments countrywide.

Federal complaints have been filed against Colorado’s top three grocery chains, who have signed a pact to share revenue in the event of a strike. The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union alleges that Safeway, King Soopers and Albertsons have refused to turn over details of the pact and are violating antitrust laws by making the deal. The two sides are currently in contract negotiations and the UFCW could strike if a compromise is not reached by the end of the week. There is disagreement over health care benefits and wage increases. UFCW Local 7 represents the more than 17,500 workers involved in negotiations.