The Pueblo Chieftain joins other Colorado newspaper editorial voices in rejecting the arguments made for Gov. Ritter's executive order unionizing state employees:While he hopes his partnership arrangements will lead to new efficiencies, just the opposite could result. Unions are notorious for demanding - and receiving - work rules that often run counter to efficient operations. In addition to high medical insurance costs, old-line industries such as steel and autos had work rules that made them less competitive than those plants which operate without unions. The governor maintains that the restrictions on the state budget ensconced in TABOR would limit the amount the state could meet in future union pay demands. But there’s always the … [Read more...]
Search Results for: Ritter union executive order
Ouch! More Pain in Ritter’s Behind-the-Scenes Union Revelations
The Rocky Mountain News today published an article which may qualify as one of the richest, most revealing local political stories of the year. It begins: On the day he issued his executive order making unions a bigger player in state government, Gov. Bill Ritter and union representatives assured Coloradans they weren't going to rock the boat. But behind the scenes, the waters were anything but calm, e-mails and other documents provided by Ritter's office in response to a Rocky Mountain News open records request show. Ritter's senior staff scrambled in the hours leading up to his announcement to deal with what they accurately predicted would be "a good deal of backlash." And a group representing seven Colorado unions rushed … [Read more...]
More Unions Jockeying to Get a Piece of State Employee Action
From this week's edition of the always insightful & entertaining Education Intelligence Agency Communique:2) Colorado Public Employees Union Hooks Up with CWA. Organized labor in Colorado is about to become very volatile. The dust has yet to settle from Gov. Bill Ritter's executive order establishing "partnerships" between state agencies and labor unions, which is clearly the prelude to public sector collective bargaining. The plans of Colorado WINS, a coalition of SEIU, AFSCME and AFT, are in evidence in the new organization's founding documents, first released exclusively by EIA on November 19. But Colorado WINS will have some competition. The formerly AFT-affiliated Colorado Federation of Public Employees has dissolved and … [Read more...]
“So What” Report Confirms Ritter’s Solution in Search of Problem
Doing its duty in support of the Left-liberal Colorado coalition, the Bell Policy Center released a report today that expends a lot of megabytes (and ink?) to say almost nothing relevant. The Rocky Mountain News first picked up on the story:Labor-management partnerships such as the one Gov. Bill Ritter ordered for state government are positive on balance, according to a report by the Bell Policy Center — a group that consulted with Ritter's staff as he launched his partnership plan. However, such agreements mostly have been used to turn around adversarial labor-management relations in already unionized workplaces with collective bargaining, the report points out. [emphasis added]The report presents zero evidence of so-called … [Read more...]
Union Payback: The Saga Goes On
The Rocky Mountain News reports today about a new policy giving labor union leaders privileged access to Colorado state government property. Too bad the administration of Governor Bill Ritter (D) is so fixated on rewarding some of his biggest campaign supporters. Colorado's voice of center-right reason on the Western Slope cataloged where these new perks fit into the larger scheme of union payback by Democrats: Republicans said the policy amounts to Ritter's second concession to unions after angering them last legislative session when he vetoed a pro-labor bill to make it easier for unions to organize in the private sector. The first payback, they said, was an executive order that allowed union dues to be automatically withdrawn … [Read more...]
Bucking Colorado’s Example, Could Michigan Soon Adopt Right-to-Work?
When it comes to freedom of association, Colorado workers soon may have good reason to envy their Michigan counterparts. The Washington Times recently reported some developing momentum for a Right-to-Work law in the Great Lakes State:The possible push in the state Legislature’s lame-duck session has already sparked a battle, as a coalition of about 300 AFL-CIO members as well as a contingent from the state police descended on the Statehouse in Lansing on Thursday to lobby lawmakers against a measure they fear could dramatically limit their influence. Big Labor is trying to nip the effort to empower non-union workers in the bud, organizing vocal pressure before a bill even has been introduced. Before the recent elections, there was no … [Read more...]
Surprise, Surprise: John Hickenlooper Calls Todd Shepherd On 850 KOA
Kudos to my friend and colleague Todd Shepherd (of Complete Colorado fame) for catching a surprise exclusive live interview with Colorado's new governor. In the middle of hosting the Sunday afternoon show on 850 KOA, Todd's jaw hit the floor when none other than John Hickenlooper heard his name being discussed and called in to the show while en route from Pueblo to an event in Colorado Springs. Click here for the full hour's audio: the Hickenlooper call starts about halfway through (not to be completely overshadowed is Todd's discussion with Colorado RNC committeeman and former state treasurer Mark Hillman at the top of the hour). Todd took a few minutes to get the softballs out of the way. But then he went to work with a series of … [Read more...]
Listen to Colorado Loses’ Podcast Update: AFSCME’s Mass Mail Screwup
Last Saturday I reported that thousands of Colorado state employees who never signed up to join a union were barraged with membership cards from the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) -- one of the union partners in the "Colorado WINS" coalition brought to life by Governor Bill Ritter's 2007 executive order. Well, apparently, AFSCME somehow reversed their membership and non-membership lists, and in the process annoyed a lot of state workers and wasted tons of paper. As to where they found the home addresses, the State of Colorado says it didn't hand them out. And I guess AFSCME isn't telling. Click the play button below (or follow this link) to hear a 10-minute podcast as state employee and "The … [Read more...]
Josh Penry Backs Scott McInnis, GOP Unites Behind 20 Governing Principles
Word has leaked to the Grand Junction Sentinel that state senate minority leader Josh Penry will formally announce his endorsement of former rival Scott McInnis for Colorado governor. The endorsement was contingent on the McInnis formally agreeing to 20 conservative governing principles. "These are the principles that swept the GOP to victory in New Jersey in Virginia," Penry said. "And they can re-unite our Party too, and pave the way for a successful campaign and, more important, a successful governing party when the election's over and done with." Without further ado, here's the list of unified governing principles that was forwarded to Mount Virtus, a list that contains a fair amount of specificity: … [Read more...]
Labor Transparency Completely Missing from Obama Administration, Colorado
With so many other outrages going on in the Obama administration, you can be forgiven if you're not aware of the stonewalling at the U.S. Department of Labor. After months of bureaucratic wrangling, the National Right to Work Foundation was compelled … [Read more...]
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