The Denver Post editorial board is on track today with a piece calling on Colorado’s sell-out U.S. Senators to come out and oppose a terrible piece of special interest payback legislation known as the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act:
Insiders say Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid, who is championing the measure, has as many as 62 votes. That tally includes Udall and Bennet.
Reid’s mandate would overturn 75 years of labor law and conflict with Colorado’s system, which has served this state well. State and local governments here already recognize collective bargaining of employees if voters agree to it. Many public employees in the Centennial State have gained such rights, and routinely set contracts with employers through collective bargaining.
Reid’s measure would require that public safety workers be given collective bargaining rights without voter approval. The Colorado Municipal League, which opposes the measure, points out that the federal mandate would instantly affect thousands of employees and Colorado taxpayers at every level.
The bill first emerged in 2007 with the Democratic Congress and has been floating around since. It’s an entirely unnecessary change to the law — a sop to Big Labor — that also would have the effect of trampling individual rights and local control, and costing taxpayers more in the long run.
Check out this post I wrote a couple years ago with links to insightful commentary and a podcast interview that is as relevant as when I recorded it three years ago. If you have any such inclination, please add your voices to those telling Colorado’s U.S. Senators to stand up for our state and not their party’s special interest funders!
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