Denver council asks voters to expand collective bargaining to more city employees

The Denver City Council on Monday unanimously gave final approval to a proposed charter change granting more city employees the right to collective bargaining.

Denver voters will have the final say this November.

The charter change is several questions that will — or may — appear on Denver’s ballot. Other questions include sales tax rate increases, a charter amendment allowing non-citizens to apply to become police officers and firefighters and, for property owners in a specific location in downtown Denver, the creation of a general improvement district.

The collective bargaining proposal will extend the right to staffers at the Denver Public Library, Denver Water and other city agencies.

Kevin Flynn, who generally supports collective bargaining, initially opposed some of the specifics of the measure, saying it unfairly lumped his council aides, who his office hired, with those of other councilmembers.

His office is not run the same way as other councilmembers, he said, and wanted to see more granularity in the proposal's language. Other issues prompted a series of amendments, which delayed the bill's final approval.

The council approved the proposal unanimously.

During the July 8 meeting, councilmembers also heard from supporters of the measure.

Wendy Howell, the state director of the Colorado Working Families Party, argued that collective bargaining rights are “a fundamental human right.”

“We know that collective bargaining guarantees workers a seat at the table, and that people can have the best intentions to do right by their workers, but the only way we know what workers actually need and want is if we hear them, and that is exactly what collective bargaining does,” she said. “It gives workers that formal voice, and that is why it is such a fundamental right, and it also because of that makes workplaces safer or equitable.”

Several testified against the proposal, including a person who has worked at the city for 16 years. Critics said unions will only stoke the fires of divisiveness within workplaces.

Another speaker, Robert Bailey, accused the City Council of malpractice and “criminal negligence” by passing the bill on to voters, as opposed to doing the work themselves. He asked the council to refresh their memory on the definition of union, saying it is a representation “of all involved.”

“Labor groups are a disunion, not a union, by definition. Labor groups are a divisional epicenter of power,” he said. “All labor groups lack accountability. They have no constituents other than me, myself and I. They have no customers other than me, myself and I.”

“Democracy requires for the people who are voted on to city council to lead the city,” he said.