May 09, 2025 10:50 AM UTC

So, About That Labor Peace Act...

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• by: Colorado Pols

As Seth Klamann reports for the Denver Post, yesterday Gov. Jared Polis confirmed as expected that he will veto Senate Bill 25-005, legislation to ease the especially difficult burden on union organizing in Colorado involving two separate elections in order to begin negotiating with an employer. Those who have been following the debate over this bill through the legislative session that wrapped up Wednesday are aware that negotiations between sponsors, Gov. Polis’ office, and business lobbyists went on throughout the session, only to break down in the final days:

Polis told reporters Thursday, a day after lawmakers adjourned for the year, that he will soon make good on his session-long threat to reject Senate Bill 5, since it is reaching his desk without amendments he’d urged. The proposal, which would make it easier for organized workers to negotiate union dues with their employers, passed the House with total Democratic support Tuesday after negotiations between Polis, labor unions and business leaders collapsed.

The governor has said he wouldn’t sign SB-5 unless business groups were comfortable with its provisions. But those groups rejected Polis’ final compromise offer.

After that, labor leaders were unwilling to accept new terms Polis sought to introduce — namely, that organized labor and Democratic lawmakers consider cutting restaurant workers’ tipped minimum wages in some places or discuss expanding charter schools.

Since SB-5 passed without a deal, Polis indicated that a veto should come as no surprise.

With the breakdown in negotiations over the bill and a veto as a result inevitable, the bill’s sponsors made the decision to send it to the governor’s desk regardless, and put the veto on the record for accountability purposes.

Though union leaders had privately braced for a veto, a top labor official criticized Polis’ Thursday comments and called them a betrayal of the governor’s prior commitment to support organizing and collective bargaining.

Dennis Dougherty, the executive director of the Colorado AFL-CIO, quoted Polis’ 2018 gubernatorial questionnaire. Then-candidate Polis, a congressman, promised the group that labor “will have no bigger champion for the rights of workers to organize than myself.”

Supporters of this legislation have complained that the business lobby never felt compelled to negotiate in good faith, at least in part because they knew that Gov. Polis would veto anything they didn’t approve of–as, to be clear, Polis had explicitly promised, so this is not a question of dishonesty. With that said, the final offer from the governor to revisit unrelated bills that had either died or been significantly watered down like the tipped workers wage bill was received by proponents as an offer designed to be declined.

But despite this outcome and the inevitable hard feelings that come with it, both sides in this debate know that the fight to reform Colorado’s anachronistic Labor Peace Act is not over, and all parties have an incentive to try again next year. The sides were at several points during negotiations seemingly not far apart before the plug was pulled on a deal this session. Gov. Polis’ final year in office in 2026 could be the best opportunity the business lobby will have to negotiate a favorable compromise before a potentially more labor-friendly new governor takes office in 2027. And yes, Gov. Polis himself has a powerful incentive to hammer out a deal that keeps faith with workers who supported him in the form of his own legacy and political future.

Although the 2025 legislative session is in the books and Senate Bill 5’s fate appears sealed, what proponents need to remember is that this result although disappointing is not final. Abortion rights, same-sex marriage, and equal pay laws are all examples of multi-year campaigns in the Colorado legislature and the ballot box that supporters saw through years of disappointment to ultimately triumph.

That’s the long-term hope to get one through momentary bad news.