Thankfully, Colorado lawmakers are on track to fix one — though only one — of the problems unleashed by Gov. Bill Ritter’s unnecessary executive order granting limited collective bargaining rights to state employees.
A bill banning strikes by state employees passed the state House of Representatives 53-12 on Wednesday. We urge the Senate to do the same.
House Bill 1189 was opposed by 10 Democrats who thought it went too far and two Republicans who thought the measure didn’t go far enough.
Actually, the bill by Rep. Jim Riesberg, D-Greeley, struck just the right balance in outlawing strikes by state employees but not limiting rights already held by other public employees.
Earlier, the House defeated a Republican alternative that would have outlawed strikes by teachers and RTD employees, among others.
The Republican bill seemed superficially “tougher” on unions than Riesberg’s. But, in fact, it could have opened just as big a Pandora’s box as Ritter’s own ill-considered order.
That’s because the state already has the power to stop teachers, RTD employees and certain other public employees from striking. But when it exercises that power, it automatically propels that labor dispute into binding arbitration. The net result is often much worse for taxpayers than if the collective bargaining process had been allowed to run its course. Such intervention can prompt unions to make unreasonable demands in hopes that arbiters will ultimately “split the difference” in the union’s favor.
Riesberg wisely steered clear of that minefield and just stipulated that state employees can’t strike. In truth, they have no need to strike, because the pay and working conditions that teachers or RTD workers have struck for are automatically set by the state civil service system.
The issue only arose because of Ritter’s order allowing unions to bargain “partnership agreements.” We have expressed at length our reservations about where this process may ultimately lead. But not even Ritter wanted strikes or binding arbitration, and specifically banned both in his order.
Yet that order couldn’t trump a 1992 state Supreme Court ruling, based on the 1915 Industrial Rights Act, that specifically upheld the right of Colorado public employees to strike. For state employees, that right was mostly moot until Ritter invited labor unions to organize state workers and bargain for at least some purposes.
HB 1189 simply amends the 1915 law to clarify that state employees can’t strike. If approved, Ritter should keep his promise to sign such a law.
Outlawing strikes by state employees is easy. Unfortunately, it will be much harder to correct the rest of the mischief created by Ritter’s order.
