The Senate on Monday sent Gov. Bill Ritter a controversial union bill – forcing the newly elected Democrat to weigh mounting pressure from Republicans and business leaders who want it killed against his party’s typical pro-union stance.
Shortly after the Senate took its final vote on changes to the Labor Peace Act, Republicans in the legislature gathered outside Ritter’s office to deliver their second letter in less than a week requesting a veto.
“We believe the closed-union shop bill has the potential to send shock waves throughout our state’s economy,” said the letter, signed by the House and Senate minority leaders, Rep. Mike May of Parker and Sen. Andy McElhany of Colorado Springs.
“We respectfully urge you to do the right thing for Colorado’s economy and veto this reckless measure.”
Ritter said opponents were overreacting.
“This is not a big deal. This is not the end of economic development in Colorado,” he said Monday in his first appearance as governor on Mike Rosen’s radio show on KOA 850-AM.
Although the governor during his campaign said he would sign a bill modifying the Labor Peace Act, he has declined to comment directly on the legislative proposal.
Ritter said Monday that he would make a final decision on signing the bill this week or next.
The measure would eliminate one of two votes now needed by unions to establish all-union shops. Employees of all-union shops who choose not to join still must pay the equivalent of union dues, which are called agency fees.
The Democratic governor campaigned as a pro-business moderate but also indicated to labor that he would sign such a measure.
Those potentially conflicting positions were the focus of much of the final Senate debate on HB 1072. And Sen. Josh Penry, R-Grand Junction, said Republican attempts to portray the bill as contrary to the pro-business stand the governor took on the campaign trail was no coincidence.
“Did he have his fingers crossed when he signed the Colorado Promise?” Penry asked in reference to Ritter’s 52-page campaign platform.
The Senate passed the bill 19-15 on straight party lines after 30 minutes of debate and continuing complaints about the process that cut off an attempted Republican filibuster against the bill Friday.
It was one of the first bills passed since Democrats assumed control of the governor’s office in addition to both houses of the legislature.
Now, business groups insist House Bill 1072 will make it harder to attract new business to the state. They have said they will consider pushing a constitutional amendment to make Colorado a right-to-work state if Ritter signs the bill. That designation would add Colorado to the list of 22 states that bar making payment of union dues a condition of employment.
“We have not seen any evidence that this will discourage business from moving to Colorado,” said bill sponsor Sen. Jennifer Veiga, D-Denver, noting that the change to the Labor Peace Act simply eliminates a requirement that was removed from federal labor law in 1951.
And she emphasized that 1072 “does not in any way change the requirements on the way unions are formed in Colorado.”
Capitol bureau chief Jeri Clausing can be reached at 303-954-1405 or jclausing@denverpost.com.
