The union bag man Gov. "Jimmy Hoffa" Ritter's spokesman Evan Dreyer made a reluctant appearance on the Mike Rosen Show this morning with guest host Jon Caldara. Confronted with the issues surrounding Friday's Big Labor payback, Dreyer hemmed and hawed around the questions. This is a must listen: follow the link, and listen to Rosen Replay 11/5/07 11-11:45 AM. It begins about a third of the way into the recording. There may be little doubt about why Ritter released this executive order in a Friday afternoon press release - and got called on it by the Denver Post - but you have to wonder what finally gave the governor's crew enough courage to come out in the light of day and defend the massive policy change in a confrontational setting. … [Read more...]
Search Results for: Ritter union executive order
Why did Ritter Leave Worker Protections out of His Order?
The Denver Business Journal interviewed one of the two national labor experts who spoke at an event this morning sponsored by the Colorado chapter of the Federalist Society. From the article headlined "Labor experts make case against Ritter's union order":The governor and Democrats in the House and Senate argue the order is non-binding and won't have a direct bearing on budgets or businesses. Many in the business community also say they're hard pressed to see how the order effects them. But Stan Greer, senior programming director for the National Institute of Labor Relations, based in Springfield, Va., made the case that Ritter's executive order isn't in the state's best economic interests -- particularly if state workers are forced to … [Read more...]
Debunking One Lefty Lie about Ritter’s Executive Order
Rather than take on all the lies and distortions in the debate over Gov. Bill Ritter's unionization executive order en masse, it makes more sense to deal with them one at a time. For starters, in two previous posts (here and here), I highlighted the internal contradictions and patent inaccuracies in the Left's attempt to deny that the order constitutes "collective bargaining." Lefty political hit man David Sirota, who recently appeared on a TV show hosted by my boss Jon Caldara at the Independence Institute, told this to his "progressive" buddies at the national Left-wing echo chamber known as Huffington Post: The most absurd attack on Ritter is the one that claims he acted in secret - even though, of course, he campaigned on a pledge … [Read more...]
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 … [Read more...]
More on Ritter the Bag Man
Over at Politics West, Joshua has some astute insights into where Gov. Ritter's executive order unionizing state employees will lead, including: The right to strike as an individual is virtually meaningless. The right to strike as a part of a union, in order to gain benefits under collective bargaining, is significantly more powerful. If such a right exists by Colorado Supreme Court decisions, then it cannot be overturned or even limited by note in an executive order. Such a note amounts to little more than a plea for AFSCME not to strike, at least not now, when it would be embarassing. Especially if you can't confine it to the Friday evening news cycle. The union would be able to negotiate with the state government as a whole, or with … [Read more...]
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. … [Read more...]
Liberal Post Writer Gets Issues Behind Ritter’s Executive Order
On Friday I highlighted the Left-labor-Democrat coalition's internal confusion about whether or not Gov. Ritter's executive order constitutes collective bargaining. Over the weekend, Denver Post editorialist Bob Ewegen - who has actually earned a degree in labor relations - set the record straight with some important observations: The ground rules for collective bargaining in the private sector are spelled out in the 1935 National Labor Relations Act, which does not cover public employees. Ritter's order basically paraphrases those federal regulations to apply to state (but not city or county) employees. The NLRA specifies how unions can be certified as "exclusive bargaining agents" for eligible employees in a specific workplace … [Read more...]
CDOT “Partnership” Success Begs Questions about Ritter Order
The Pueblo Chieftain's Charles Ashby reports (H/T Mike Saccone) that Gov. Bill Ritter and the Democrats are trotting out a Republican state department chief as safe cover for his executive order: A Republican Cabinet member in Gov. Bill Ritter's administration already has found the governor's plan to "partner" with state workers beneficial to running his de- partment. But Russell George, executive director of the Colorado Department of Transportation, would have done that anyway, the former GOP House speaker said. "It's very much in my nature to want to know the people I work with," said George, who previously was head of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources under former Gov. Bill Owens. "So, as I got here, I would have … [Read more...]
Ritter Unionization Order to Cost Taxpayers
With input yesterday from Colorado Attorney General John Suthers comes the first evidence that Ritter's union executive order will cost taxpayers money after all - despite the protests of the governor's office: Suthers told the committee Wednesday that he expects leaders of other state agencies to seek out legal advice on how to handle labor-relation issues in light of the new bargaining power of state workers. That, in turn, will probably require his office to either contract with or hire lawyers with labor-law experience, he said. "There is no question in our mind that there is going to be an increase in demand for legal services in our office," Suthers said after the meeting. Suthers, a Republican, said he cannot yet put a … [Read more...]
Gazette: Ritter Throws Tasty Raw “Sirloin Steak” to Labor Leaders
The Colorado Springs Gazette's editors decry Gov. "Back Room" Bill "Bag Man" Ritter for his executive order unionizing state employees: For the second time in less than a year, Gov. Bill Ritter has gotten into political trouble by throwing a bone to his labor union friends. In this case, however, he didn’t just throw them a bone, but a sirloin steak, by granting state employees de facto collective bargaining powers in an executive order issued late in the afternoon of Nov. 2. Contributing to the backlash this time around is the secretive, unilateral way the political payoff was orchestrated, and the slick, Clintonesque way the governor has tried to spin the issue by playing semantics. Ouch - it's worth reading the whole thing. … [Read more...]