DENVER—At least 22,500 secretaries, prison guards and other state employees have voted to unionize, even though the majority of eligible workers didn’t cast a ballot, a union spokeswoman said Thursday.
Dawn Le, spokeswoman for ColoradoWINS, the coalition of three unions behind the election, said her organization won’t negotiate contracts until another 11,000 state workers eligible to unionize cast ballots.
The union coalition said of 6,883 total votes cast, 5,481, or 80 percent, were in favor and 1,402, 20 percent, said no.
The vote was possible because of an executive order issued by Gov. Bill Ritter last November that allowed state employees to unionize and collectively bargain for wages and work conditions.
Ritter’s spokesman, Evan Dreyer, said the governor was satisfied with the vote.
“It’s another step in the process that gets us closer to the vision the governor laid out. We look forward to going ahead with a process to create and efficient and safe state government,” Dreyer said.
Under the previous law, state employees could join unions, but the unions acted more as lobbyists than collective bargainers.
Republicans jumped on the issue shortly after Ritter issued his order, accusing him of pandering to labor and circumventing the Legislature. They said say Ritter unnecessarily opened the door to future wage disputes.
Unions had fewer than 6,000 dues-paying state workers before Ritter’s order.
The Colorado Association of Public Employees, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the American Federation of Teachers formed their coalition, called ColoradoWINS four days after Ritter’s order and launched a furious recruitment campaign.
