Under fire for refusing to back business in a legislative labor fight, Gov. Bill Ritter stood up to more than 400 business leaders Thursday and called for civil discourse rather than threats.
Though he was greeted with a standing ovation in the packed ballroom at the Brown Palace Hotel, the applause stopped after he addressed “the elephant in the middle of the room. … Or maybe that’s the donkey in the middle of the room.”
“I don’t believe that the economic prosperity of this state rests on whether I sign the Labor Peace Act,” Ritter told the Colorado Association of Commerce and Industry luncheon.
The bill, which would make it easier for labor groups to form all-union shops, was passed by the House this week. Ritter’s office said he was inclined to sign it.
That prompted an outcry from business leaders, including CACI, whose board Thursday unanimously voted to oppose it.
“I think a number of people on our board are probably delivering him the message that we do oppose this and we really do think it will be bad for business,” Chuck Berry, president of CACI, said after the speech.
Currently, all-union agreements in Colorado must be voted on once by employees and then again by secret ballot. The second vote must pass by a simple majority of all those employees eligible to vote or 75 percent of those who voted, whichever is greater.
The Labor Peace Act would eliminate the second vote.
It is the first in what will probably be a series of competing business and labor demands on Ritter, who heads up Democratic control of both the statehouse and Governor’s Mansion for the first time in more than 40 years.
While labor is hoping to capitalize on what would traditionally be considered a liberal political advantage, some key business leaders backed Ritter over his GOP opponent, Bob Beauprez, after he wooed them with a moderate platform focused on economic development.
“Business leaders are viewing this as a kick in the teeth right out of the gate,” said Tim Jackson, president of the Colorado Automobile Dealers Association.
Business groups fear that passage of the Labor Peace Act will keep new business from coming to Colorado. Ritter tried to appease those concerns, insisting “I will do everything I can to market this state.”
Ritter told the luncheon crowd that he had heard, anecdotally, of threats by the business community to back out of its support for his health care initiatives if he backs the union bill.
“For us to move forward in this state, we have to always be looking for common ground. There will be areas of disagreement and places where I may urge a different path than you,” he said. “… We need to have a civil conversation. We need to be prudent.”
He never said directly whether he would sign or veto the bill.
House Majority Leader Alice Madden, D-Boulder, said she was “amazed at the blowup” over the legislation and chided media reports portraying the bill as one that would make it easier for unions to organize. Rather, she said, the bill would simply eliminate a second vote currently required for workers to form union shops.
Union shops require that all workers in a bargaining unit must either join the union or pay “agency fees” equivalent to union dues.
“Don’t let other people tell you what it does,” said Madden, speaking during a CACI event at the state Capitol after the luncheon with Ritter.
