Businesses and organized labor have reached a deal in which four union-backed measures will be pulled from the November ballot.
Manolo Gonzalez-Estay, campaign manager for the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 union’s political issue committee, said details will be disclosed at a news conference at 11 a.m. today.
Sources said the most recent offer from business leaders called for them to contribute $3 million to labor’s fight against Amendment 47, the right-to-work measure, and two other initiatives. In return, labor would withdraw their measures. A source said this week that UFCW was the lone hold-out in the deal.
The news conference will be at Civic Center. “Leaders from Colorado’s business and labor community and Gov. Bill Ritter” will be in attendance, a news release sais.
The measures that will be pulled are Amendments 53, 55, 56 and 57.
Amendment 53 would have held executives criminally liable under state law for corporate wrongdoings; Amendment 55 would have require businesses to have “just cause” for firing workers; Amendment 56 would have force businesses with 20 or more employees to provide health-care coverage; and Amendment 57 would have allow injured employees to seek damages outside the workers’ compensation system.
