The Colorado Union Observer

“The federally funded tax credit, which takes effect starting next year, is a win-win. It enhances options and opportunity for Colorado’s kids at no cost to the state’s strapped budget. . . The Colorado Education Association is backing a bill now afoot in the legislature to undermine Colorado’s ability to participate.”

“The Colorado House voted 42–22 along party lines Monday to approve legislation repealing the second election required under the state’s Labor Peace Act, sending the measure to the Senate after a similar proposal was vetoed by Gov. Jared Polis in 2025.”

“Nearly 3,800 meatpackers at the JBS plant in Greeley plan to walk off the job March 16 after eight months of contract negotiations reached an impasse Friday, labor union officials said. JBS employees have been working on an extension of the expired contract since July.”

“A judge in Colorado federal court granted Wednesday a motion from a union group seeking to intervene to defend a Colorado statute challenged by a county that claims the law, which. . .”

“[A] group of Democratic lawmakers announced during a news conference at the Capitol rotunda they’ve filed Senate Bill 135 to help solve that problem. Joined by Bergman and other Colorado Education Association union members, lawmakers said the bill would ask voters to approve a November ballot measure to increase state spending on K-12 education by 2% each year for the next 10 years.”

“‘We’ve all seen firsthand that Colorado’s public schools are chronically underfunded,’ said Kevin Vick, the president of Colorado Education Association, on Thursday. . . Vick, who leads the state’s largest teacher’s union with about 40,000 members, was joined by Sen. Jeff Bridges, Rep. Jennifer Bacon and education advocates at the Capitol to announce support for the bill.”

“District staff endorsed the concept, but when it reached the legislature, Jeffco’s union-backed board leadership went silent. During a Feb. 4 meeting, member Peter Gibbins asked the district’s lobbyist, Ed Boditch, “Do we know what the association’s view on this bill is?” He’d said the quiet part out loud: The union bosses hold sway.”

“Less than a year after Gov. Jared Polis vetoed a bill to overhaul Colorado’s law governing unionization, a House committee approved a new bill that’s essentially a carbon copy of the old one. . . The bill would upend the state’s 80-year-old Labor Peace Act, which requires union organizers to hold two elections to form a union.”