Mount Virtus

"Happy to come back to Michigan, but I miss the mountains!"

Ben on Social Media

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Home
  • About Ben
  • Mount Virtus?
  • Writer / Editor For Hire
  • What I’m Thankful For
  • Colorado Ballot Reviews
    • Colorado Ballot 2008
    • Colorado Ballot 2010
    • Colorado Ballot 2012
  • Archives
  • Passion and Purpose:
    The Rise & Fall of Al Gansee
  • Mary and Jacob: From the Forgotten Dust
Home Colorado Politics FTS: Ritter Mulls Collective Bargaining Executive Order

10/8/2007 By Ben Leave a Comment

FTS: Ritter Mulls Collective Bargaining Executive Order

Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter looks to be more serious about his payback to Big Labor leaders than even earlier anticipated. As Face the State reports today – having uncovered key communications – the Governor is seriously considering an executive order to institute collective bargaining for state employees.

The problem with the governor’s proposed policy change is identified well by Republican state senators Kester and McElhany in a recent commentary for the Pueblo Chieftain:

Why the secrecy? Maybe it is because they know collective bargaining is a train wreck waiting to happen.

Just look at the cost incurred by other states that have gone down that path. Washington’s state government, which began its experiment with collective bargaining in 2004, will spend an additional $1.6 billion in salary and benefits on its 110,000 employees over the next two years under that state’s labor contract. Members of Washington’s legislature have little leeway under the contract and cannot change it.

In Colorado, collective bargaining is even harder to justify. As the Rocky Mountain News reported, Colorado state employees earn about 25 percent more than their counterparts in neighboring states! Their average salary of $51,753 already ranks ninth in the nation, or 9 percent higher than the national average for state employees.

It is not only the taxpayers who would feel the pinch. Some of the very same state employees whom collective bargaining is supposed to help would wind up with the short end of the stick. That is because they would be forced either to join the union or pay “agency fees” in lieu of dues. In Washington, state employees who refused either option actually lost their jobs.

These observations only scratch the surface. Perhaps understanding this helps to explain why the governor may push his policy through a stroke of the pen. First, such a dramatic policy change without any mention of the problem supposedly being solved. And now, without even a debate among the people’s elected representatives?

Maybe the majority Democrats, realizing just how unpopular mandated collective bargaining would be, want to leave it to their popular governor to absorb the entire political hit. That would help spare Democrat legislators in vulnerable districts from having to choose between re-election and spurning the union bosses on one hand, and drinking the party Kool-Aid and going down to electoral defeat on the other.

On the surface, it looks shrewd. But if Ritter goes down the executive order road on this issue, he may forfeit more popularity and coalition support than he can afford. What’s left of the political honeymoon would then come to a screeching halt.

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, General, Labor

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Inside

  • About Ben
  • Archives
  • Colorado Ballot Reviews
    • Colorado Ballot 2008
    • Colorado Ballot 2010
    • Colorado Ballot 2012
    • Colorado Ballot 2014
  • Mary and Jacob: From the Forgotten Dust
  • Mount Virtus?
  • Passion and Purpose:
    The Rise & Fall of Al Gansee
  • What I’m Thankful For
  • Writer / Editor For Hire

About Me

Ben DeGrow
Grateful and growing Christian, devoted husband and father of 3, public policy analyst, returned to Michigan by way of Colorado, conservative writer, lifelong learner, Detroit Tigers fan.

Recent Posts

  • Common Learning Disabilities in Children
  • Tips to Teach Kids to Set and Achieve Goals
  • The Christmas Music Countdown You’ve Been Looking For: 2022 Edition
  • Sleep Deprivation and Parental Controls: How to Ensure Your Kids are Safe from Media Exposure
  • 8 Original Ways To Leverage Influencer Marketing

Colorado News

  • Colorado Senate News
  • Complete Colorado
  • Independence Institute
  • Loveland Politics
  • The Colorado Observer

National News and Politics

  • Drudge Report
  • Hot Air
  • National Review
  • Politico
  • Real Clear Politics
  • Reason
  • The Washington Times
  • TownHall
  • Wall Street Journal
  • Weekly Standard
  • World Magazine

Blogs Extraordinaire

  • American Thinker
  • David Harsanyi’s Blog
  • E!! The True Conservative Story
  • EIA Intercepts
  • Evangelical Outpost
  • Hugh Hewitt
  • Instapundit
  • LaShawn Barber
  • Lileks
  • Little Green Footballs
  • Michelle Malkin
  • NRO's The Corner
  • Power Line
  • Red State

Completing the Blogroll

  • Alarming News
  • Black Five
  • Blogs of War
  • Eduwonk
  • Flypaper
  • Fraters Libertas
  • Historical Conversations
  • IMAO
  • Jay P. Greene
  • Mike Anderson
  • Mullings
  • Professor Bainbridge
  • Right Thinking
  • Right Wing News
  • Right Wing Nuthouse
  • Shot in the Dark
  • Talking Points Memo
  • Virginia Postrel
  • Volokh Conspiracy

Christian Commentary et al.

  • Kevin Pierpont
  • Sharper Iron

Conservative and GOP Sites

  • Backbone America
  • Cal Thomas
  • Colorado Republican Party
  • Colorado Republican Study Committee
  • Dennis Prager
  • Denver Metro Young Republicans
  • Free Republic
  • Heritage Foundation
  • Jefferson County Republican Party
  • Mackinac Center for Public Policy
  • Mark Steyn
  • Michael Medved
  • Rush Limbaugh

Colorado Blogs

  • American Kestrel
  • Bob Agard
  • Colorado Charter Schools
  • Colorado Peak Politics
  • Colorado Pols
  • Colorado Right
  • Conservative Libertarian Outpost
  • Coyote Gulch
  • Ed Is Watching
  • Free Colorado
  • Jeff Crank Show
  • Mark Hillman
  • Patient Power
  • PirateBallerina
  • Protein Wisdom
  • Reagan Girl
  • Rocky Mountain Alliance 1.0 (Archive)
  • Rocky Mountain Alliance 2.0 (Archive)
  • Rossputin
  • Stop the ACLU Blog
  • The Spot (Denver Post)
  • We Stand Firm

Other Sites

  • Technorati
  • Word Press

Rocky Mountain Alliance 2.0

  • Reclaim the Blue
  • The Business Word
  • The Daily Blogster
  • View from a Height

To Contact Me:
bendegrow-at-gmail.com

Copyright © 2023 RSS Feed · WordPress · Log in