Close
X
Freedom Foundation

Get in touch

Freedom Foundation
Opt Out Today
  • Blogs
  • Staff
  • Donate
  • Join Us
  • Profiting from a Pandemic
  • Why We Fight
  • Cigars
  • SCOTUS Appeals
Freedom Foundation
Opt Out Today
Freedom Foundation

Contact Info

Colorado Voters Require Open Meetings for Union Bargaining

CO-Open-Meetings-FEATURED.jpg Labor
  • Jami Lund
  • November 13, 2014

Another bright spot from the 2014 election is the addition of Colorado to the list of states that prohibit government officials from meeting secretly with union officials to set operational rules and spending priorities.

Colorado voters approved Proposition 104, the School Board Open Meetings, by a 70 percent majority.

Union officials represent a private enterprise that collects dues to represent the interests of employees above all other interests in government priorities.

In some states, including Washington and Colorado, the law gives these officials a monopoly over representing groups of workers. Bargaining laws also force government to give this special interest an unprecedented power to impact decisions about accountability, service levels and the cost of government services.

A conflict of interest could occur when those union officials are also able to electioneer on behalf of those elected to boards, councils or the governor’s office that are responsible for collective bargaining.

Of the states that grant the privilege of government employee collective bargaining, 11 require some level of public observation of the negotiation process creating the union contract.

Colorado is now the 12th, but the new law addresses only school contract negotiations.

Last year, the Freedom Foundation worked with lawmakers who considered legislation to require the meetings between government and the union to be open to observation.

Senate Bill 6183, introduced by Sens. John Braun, Rodney Tom, Randi Becker, Jan Angel, Barbara Bailey, Tim Sheldon Sheldon, Michael Baumgartner, Jim Honeyford, Sharon Brown and Janea Holmquist Newbry stalled in the Senate last year. 

Union officials testified against it.

No private enterprise should have the ability to hijack government for its own special interest. The Freedom Foundation remains committed to working on government accountability and making sure that transparency can have its effect.

Colorado voters indicate that this is a very popular idea.

 

Here my discussion about this proposition with Ben DeGrow of Colorodo’s Independence Institute on Freedom Daily Radio here.

Recent Blogs

Telling the truth even to those who don’t want to hear it
February 3, 2023
DeSantis supports teachers, not their union masters
February 2, 2023
Opt-out windows just another way unions flout Janus ruling
February 2, 2023
Union Politics, Dollars Upended the Ohio State House
January 26, 2023
Freedom Foundation Reaction to Washington State Supreme Court Hearing on Capital Gains Tax
January 26, 2023

Press Articles

  • Jul 06 — RedState — Janus at 4: Landmark Labor Ruling Helped but Still Needs to be Enforced More Aggressively

    Read The Article

  • Jun 28 — Ineptocracy Chronicles — Teacher Unions Fund Left Wing Politics

    Read The Article

  • Jun 25 — The Hill — States Should Protect Caregivers' Medicaid Funds from Union Skims

    Read The Article

  • Jun 15 — Legal Newsline — Freedom Foundation: 'Education Union Spent More Money on Political Activities than Worker Representation'

    Read The Article

  • Jun 09 — Southern California Record — LA Superior Court Court Reporter Accuses Union of Forging Her Signature on Membership Card

    Read The Article

  • General Inquiries

    Info@FreedomFoundation.com

    Media Inquiries

    avarner@freedomfoundation.com

    Follow Us

             

    Contact Locations

    Washington:

    360-956-3482
    P.O. Box 552 Olympia,
    WA 98507

    Pennsylvania:

    484-747-6072
    P.O. Box 1069 Kennett Square,
    PA 19348

    California:

    949-954-8914
    1442 E Lincoln Ave #440 Orange,
    CA 92865

    Oregon:

    503-951-6208
    P.O. Box 18146 Salem,
    OR 97305

    Ohio:

    380-207-3901
    P.O. Box 14210 Cincinnati,
    OH 45250

    © 2021 Freedom Foundation. All Rights Reserved.
    Registered 501(c)(3). EIN: 94-3136961