Charter amendment referral for collective bargaining means Denver voters decide.

Voters will decide whether or not to grant employees of the City and County of Denver the right to collective bargaining. The charter amendment language includes standard language and pulls from Denver labor law for the Firefighters, local labor policy for the Denver K-12 teachers, and federal labor law. Here is the Council-referred charter amendment. 

Who will be impacted?

All non-supervisory, non-confidential employees of the City and County of Denver, including library workers, parks and rec workers, public health workers, human services workers, Denver Water, public works workers and more. Denver social workers, librarians, trash collectors, animal shelter workers, and recreation coaches will be included. 

What do collective bargaining rights mean?

Currently Denver teachers, Denver firefighters, and Denver police all have collective bargaining. As do most workers in large American cities like Denver. Collective bargaining means employees and their employer sit down to negotiate and come to agreement on terms and conditions of employment. 

How do collective bargaining rights work?

Collective bargaining rights give Denver employees the opportunity to vote for or against union representation if at least 30% of them want to pursue such a vote. If the majority of voters in an appropriate bargaining unit vote for union representation, they will go into negotiations with the City and County of Denver. When the parties come to an agreement, the workers must vote to approve, or ratify, the Collective Bargaining Agreement before it goes into effect. 

Collective bargaining is good for workers and the public.

Collective bargaining is in the public interest. When public workers have the ability to collectively address workplace issues they are better able to advocate for the public they serve. 

Collective bargaining for City and County of Denver workers is long overdue.

Except for public safety, most of the 11,000 employees in the City and County of Denver do not have collective bargaining rights. Denver is a solitary outlier among peer cities; every single other democratically controlled large US city in purple or blue states has collective bargaining for its municipal workforce. Since 2022, all county workers in Colorado have collective bargaining rights. It is time for Denver workers to secure these basic rights. 

Support for unions and collective bargaining is at a historic high.

There is overwhelming support for collective bargaining, unions, and the right to strike among Americans: 

•  Gallup 2023: Two-thirds of all Americans, 88% of Democrats, 69% of independents, 47% of Republicans support unions
• GBAO 2023: 91% of Democrats, 71% of the general population, strike support is even greater (75%)

Vote YES on 2U!