I had written a much longer post on this earlier, but it was eaten by my computer. Coloardo state employees
voted overwhelmingly to unionize with a combination of three public employee unions,
called Colorado WINS.
Governor Bill Ritter signed an Executive Order granting limited collective bargaining rights (but excluding the right to strike) for several groups of employees in 2007. Since then, Colorado Highway Patrolmen have unionized, and now, road workers and university employees are joining the growing movement.
There are a couple of interesting takes on what's happening in this case. The first is that instead of beating each others' brains out trying to compete for these new members, AFSCME, SEIU and the AFT have joined forces in a show of unity and in a move designed to triple the effectveness of their poiltical and bargaining clout. That's probably a smart strategic move, since the right wing is
predictably up in arms about this whole deal.
The second thing that is noteworthy here is that the rights of these employees are dependent not on a statute but on an executive order. What this means is that with a new governor, these rights can be either expanded, or taken away altogether (unlike here in Illinois, where the legislature would have to undo the Illinois Education Labor Relations Act to take away our rights to organize, bargain and strike). The state employees' unions then will have to be active political players to protect their rights. And if they are active political players, you can predict the howling that will ensue as their political enemies see all this unfold.
I have two more quick hits. The
first is that the Supreme Court ruled that federal employees have no right to sue their employers for being treated unfairly--as long as their unfair treatment doesn't violate their protected status as say, a woman, or a person of advanced age, or their veteran status, or their race. And according to this ruling, employees do not have a recourse to deal with it.
Well, except for one.
Lastly, the
California Assembly has passed legislation guaranteeing sick leave for California workers. Under this law, they would earn one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours they work.
It is expected to pass the California Senate as well. The Governor has not taken a position on it. Recently,
New Jersey passed similar legislation.