Ritter’s Executive Order: Is it Collective Bargaining or Not?

It’s been kind of funny to watch the Democratic Party coalition in Colorado dance around the term “collective bargaining” since last Friday afternoon’s executive order from Gov. Bill Ritter. Here is a sample:

Denver Post (11/4/07): “Mitch Ackerman, president of Service Employees International Union Local 105, called the partnership with Kaiser a ’21st century model of collective bargaining,’ a departure from the traditionally adversarial relationship between managers and workers.”

Colorado Federation of Public Employees Press Release (11/6/07): “Union Leader Says Partnership is Not Collective Bargaining”

Bill Ritter, Rocky Mountain News Speakout (11/6/07): “Twenty-nine states provide collective-bargaining rights to their employees. What we have crafted for Colorado is not collective bargaining.”

Erin Rosa, Colorado Confidential (11/9/07): “What do state employees think about Gov. Bill Ritter’s executive order to bring collective bargaining to the workforce?”

Progressive States Network “Fact Sheet” (touted by David Sirota, and worthy of a herculean effort in de-bunking itself): “EXPERT: RITTER’S MOVE ‘NOT REALLY COLLECTIVE BARGAINING’ – Chip Taylor, legislative director for Colorado Counties Inc., told the Rocky Mountain News that conservatives are misleading the public with their rhetoric about Ritter’s executive order. “There’s a no-strike clause, and it doesn’t allow for binding arbitration,” Taylor said. “It’s not really collective bargaining.”

Elsewhere on the same fact sheet, we find headings such as: “COLLECTIVE BARGAINING NOT NEW IN ROCKY MOUNTAIN STATES” and “KENNEDY ISSUED AN EXECUTIVE ORDER TO ALLOW FEDERAL COLLECTIVE BARGAINING.” If Ritter’s order isn’t to be considered “collective bargaining,” then why are these cited as arguments in its favor?

So is the order “collective bargaining” or isn’t it? A look at the standard definitions accepted in the dictionary give a clear answer: Yes, it is.
The more the Left can confuse Coloradans about what the order is and where the order promises to lead state government, the more they hope voters in this individual-rights friendly Western state will throw up their hands and give them a pass. And they can continue their happy, heavily-funded socialist experiment on our fair state.

But it appears sometimes they even confuse themselves. And heading into the weekend, I find that quite amusing.