The largest union representing state employees has launched a campaign urging Gov. Bill Ritter to sign legislation revamping the pay-raise system for state workers.
The effort by Colorado WINS comes amid worry over whether Ritter, who has expressed concerns about House Bill 1409, will veto the bill. Ritter’s office has said only that it is giving the bill careful consideration.
“We need to do our due diligence to let the governor know this (bill) is a priority,” said Bob Gibson, executive director of Colorado WINS.
The union’s website urges WINS members to call the governor’s office and express support for the bill, which would move the state from a pay system that is now based primarily on performance to one that would, in theory, grant gradual pay increases as long as workers get satisfactory evaluations.
“In the final hours of the 2010 Colorado Legislative session, Colorado WINS members helped to pass House Bill 1409 to eliminate the broken ‘pay for performance’ system,” the website says. “But we’re not done yet — we need to call Governor Ritter and urge him to sign HB 1409 into law.”
Ritter officials have expressed concerns about whether the bill diminishes the governor’s power to recommend raises. Under current law, the governor — in his budget recommendations — can call for performance-based pay hikes for employees, but they still must be approved by lawmakers, who write the budget. Ritter then can veto line items in the budget, if he chooses.
The bill would qualify state employees who are meeting performance standards for 12 annual incremental pay increases, but any pay hikes still would have to be approved by lawmakers. No pay increases would take effect for at least three years, and that’s assuming the state had money to fund them.
State employees have had no raises the past two years and had furloughs in the current fiscal year ending in June. They face 2.5 percent pay cuts in the next fiscal year, on top of higher contributions they must make to their pensions.
Rep. Jack Pommer, D-Boulder, sponsored the pay-hike bill and said its prospects are shaky.
“The indication I’ve had is that he (Ritter) is probably going to veto it,” said Pommer, who said the governor’s office initially agreed to support the bill but got cold feet when the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce came out against it.
“This is the weird thing,” Pommer said. “We had an agreement.”
But Evan Dreyer, Ritter’s spokesman, denied the office broke any deal.
“Not true,” Dreyer said. “What’s true is that with every piece of legislation, the governor has an open-door policy — where lawmakers, interested parties and constituent groups have the governor’s ear and the ear of his staff.
“The legislative process is a dynamic process,” he said. “Bills change as they move through committee from one chamber to the other and back to committees.”
Tim Hoover: 303-954-1626 or thoover@denverpost.com
