While a debate on public-sector unions dominates the national news, there’s an opportunity brewing in Colorado to offer a few state employees more choices.
House Bill 1007, sponsored by Grand Junction Republicans, Rep. Laura Bradford and Sen. Steve King, would allow Mesa State College’s classified employees to vote on whether to opt out of the state personnel system and instead become exempt, at-will staffers in a merit- based system.
The bill already has passed the House.
Current Mesa State employees would have the choice to stay with the state rather than participate in the alternative system.
Even if workers choose to leave the state system, they would retain all the rights and protections they benefitted from before. Employees would also retain all sick and vacation days. The bill also makes it illegal for the college administration to discriminate against any employee who decides not to opt out.
So why would a bill that offers employees more choices almost certainly be killed in the Colorado Senate where Democrats hold a majority?
Colorado WINS, one the state’s public employee unions, says it is concerned that Mesa’s employees would be open to intimidation and retribution from administrators if they opt to stay within the state system.
Well, as history has shown us, intimidation is not the sole province of management. Union officials partake in intimidation just as easily.
Denying employees a choice because of the fear of illegal behavior — behavior that is explicitly banned in the bill — is no reason to limit options. It is also why we favor secret ballots, and have opposed the federal “card check” pushed by unions that effectively eliminates the secret ballot vote among workers when forming a union.
Rep. Lois Court, D-Denver, told The Colorado Statesman the theory that a privatized personnel system is less expensive is a myth. At the same time she also noted, “If enough people aren’t covered . . . the system will no longer be viable.”
Her claims are arguable, of course, since Colorado has never given state employees a chance to find out.
Court and other Democrats should not be the final arbiter of what is worthwhile for employees. Why not give the workers themselves the chance to decide which system works best for them?
If the state isn’t providing the sort of benefits that employees desire and it prompts other employees to then flee the state system, it may mean the system isn’t doing its job very well. Either way, we’d like to see employees have the choice.
