DENVER—Republican state leaders chastised Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter on Monday for issuing an executive order giving the state’s 49,000 workers the right to join unions or other employee associations, saying union organizers were disrupting state government to solicit new members.
Republicans accused the governor of bypassing the Legislature by issuing an executive order and asked him to delay the plan so lawmakers can study it.
“Your administration has instituted numerous studies and task forces to examine a variety of issues that impact our state. Yet this policy has been implemented not only without study, but also without any conversation or debate at any level with the people of Colorado or the business community,” Senate Minority Leader Andy McElhany, R-Colorado Springs, and House Minority Leader Mike May, R-Parker, said in a letter to Ritter.
“We also ask that you stop unions from going door to door in public buildings, as they are currently doing, soliciting membership and disrupting state business,” they said.
Evan Dreyer, Ritter’s spokesman, said there are no plans to delay the order. He said it’s up to each department to set rules on union organizing.
“We are confident everyone will abide by appropriate rules and proper good behavior,” Dreyer said.
A spokeswoman for the Colorado Association of Public Employees-Service Employees International Union, which represents about 5,000 state workers, did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.
Ritter issued a statement on Monday saying the order does not call for binding arbitration and does not require employees to join an employee organization or pay fees if they choose not to join.
He said his plan allows employees to work with managers to make government more effective. He called it a partnership, not collective bargaining.
Ritter said he issued the executive order because it allows him the flexibility he needs as chief executive “to effectively and efficiently manage state government.” He said it would be easier to change the order than pass new legislation if changes are needed.
Under current law, state employees can join unions, but the unions act more as lobbying firms than collective bargainers.
