A proposed constitutional amendment that would prohibit requiring workers to join a union or pay dues to a labor organization as a condition of employment is a step closer to appearing on the 2026 ballot after clearing the state’s Title Board. 

The proposal, which would also guarantee workers have the right to voluntarily join or financially support a union, is the latest salvo in a major debate over organized labor in Colorado, where a coalition of unions is clashing with businesses over a proposal to make it easier to impose fees on non-union members.  

If approved by voters, it would move Colorado under the “right-to-work” column.  

Because of the 1943 Labor Peace Act, Colorado is neither a right-to-work state nor a “right-to-organize” state.

Like other states, the current law requires an election, which must receive a simple majority, in order to form a union, but it also requires a second election to establish a “union security agreement.” That election must receive a 75% vote, opening the way for a union and a company to negotiate and impose dues on non-union members.

‘Colorado Workers’ Rights Amendment’

Democrats in the Colorado General Assembly have introduced a bill that would repeal the second election requirement. Business owners argued this would destabilize the state at a crucial juncture, while unions insisted it would lead to higher wages and a stronger economy. 

The measure has already passed through the Senate on a party-line vote. Gov. Jared Polis has made it clear that he will not sign the bill unless it has the support of both the business and labor communities. So far, it doesn’t seem likely the two sides will reach a compromise, even after lengthy discussions.

If the bill passes, however, Jon Caldara, the president of Independence Institute who is behind the proposed constitutional amendment, said he is prepared to bring the ballot measure before the voters.

A veteran political commentator and activist, Caldara said he has received numerous requests to bring a right-to-work initiative to the ballot over the years. He was always hesitant to do so, he said, because he didn’t want to mess with the Labor Peace Act — until some in the legislature proposed eliminating it.

“Now that Senate Bill 005 is out here trying to destroy the peace that we’ve had for 80 years, now is the time that we need to take a look at how we protect workers’ rights” he said. “Thus, this initiative.”

Caldara, a regular columnist of the Gazette newspapers, is unsure whether he will still run the initiative if the bill doesn’t become law, which he believes is likely. If he decides to pursue it, he confident it would pass, he said. 

“Coloradans are very sensitive to their rights, and they understand that other people shouldn’t coerce money out of them without their direct permission,” he said. “That’s one of the reasons why the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) is so crucial here. So, Colorado has a pretty elevated sense of consent, and you cannot just take peoples’ money without consent.”

No compromise between labor, business in sight 

While discussions between business and labor don’t appear to be producing any kind of compromise, labor activists said they aren’t backing down.

“We’ve engaged in good-faith discussions and proposed clear solutions to address concerns raised by the business lobby, but our priority remains unchanged — ensuring that Colorado workers have real protections and a fair path to unionize,” said Dennis Dougherty, executive director of the Colorado AFL-CIO. “We will not abide efforts by big business to weaken the bill at the expense of working people.”

Business leaders said they have offered to address labor’s concerns with the way the second election is run through the Department of Labor and work on reducing the amount of time between the first and second elections. However, unions are uninterested in dealing with those issues without eliminating the second election requirement, according to J.J. Ament, president and CEO of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce. 

“In each offer from the business community, we’ve been rebuffed by labor, who has not offered any other alternative other than the original bill as it’s been introduced,” he said.

According to Ament, labor leaders have told the business community that the main reason they want to get rid of the second election is to increase their return on investment for the time and money spent organizing. 

That return isn’t high enough unless the union collects dues from every employee, regardless of membership, Ament said, citing conversations with labor leaders.

The chamber opposed a similar measure in 2008. Back then, right-to-work activists brought the measure forward after then-Gov. Bill Ritter vetoed a bill that would have gotten rid of the Labor Peace Act, Ament said.  

Even though the chamber agreed that workers should not be required to pay union fees if they didn’t belong to the union, it opposed the 2008 measure because of its commitment to preserving the Labor Peace Act, said Ament.  

“The chamber’s No. 1 legislative priority is to protect the peace, because it’s served Colorado so well for so long, and we need to keep the pendulum from swinging to either extreme,” he said. 

Sen. Jessie Danielson, D-Wheat Ridge, a sponsor of Senate Bill 005, said she would more than welcome any good-faith negotiations with business, but the proposals they have brought, thus far, have been unreasonable. 

According to Danielson, business stakeholders sought to compromise by agreeing to eliminate the second election but increasing the threshold requirement for the first election from a simple majority to 75%.

“They put forward ideas that actually made it worse than the way things currently are,” she said. “That is unacceptable. That’s not a compromise. They were being extremely unreasonable, so to say that was a reasonable compromise was laughable to me, the workers, and everyone else.” 

Danielson said she is hopeful that the governor would uphold what she called the wishes of the people of Colorado and sign the bill into law if it came to his desk. 

“People across the state are demanding that the Democrats in power do something for working people, so we are answering that call,” she said. “This is a very, very simple measure. This is about the basics of collective bargaining, and the governor has a choice — does he stand with the people of the state of Colorado who are demanding that we make this change or not?”

Danielson said the threat of a ballot measure does not scare her. She said a similar measure failed to pass in 2008, and union support among Coloradans has only increased since then. 

“This measure is wildly popular amongst Coloradans in every corner of the state — from Sterling to Steamboat to Salida to Durango, La Junta, Greeley, Fort Collins,” she said. “Workers understand that union security provides better pay, better benefits, and better job safety, and they want to be able to organize.” 

Senate Bill 005 will be heard by the House Business Affairs and Labor Committee on March 13.