As votes to form a union rolled in from Boulder County employees Jan. 16, Brianna Barber was overcome with emotion.
“It just came in waves where I was like, crying, and then I’d be so excited, and then just crying,” said the organizer and county employee of six years. “So much blood, sweat and tears went into this.”
It was the culmination of a year and a half of organizing, hosting lunch-and-learns, meeting one-on-one with fellow employees and learning about the unionization process.
The 442-221 vote makes the new Boulder County Employees Union — representing more than 1,400 workers and affiliated with Communication Workers of America (CWA) — Colorado’s largest group of county workers to unionize since the 2022 passage of a state law that granted county employees collective bargaining rights and other worker protections. According to Barber, it’s also one of the biggest collective bargaining units filed in the public or private sector in the last decade.
“What I know is first we celebrate,” said organizer and county employee Alberto De Los Rios. “And also acknowledge the work has just started.”
Now the union will begin bargaining with the county to reach a contract they hope will narrow the pay gap, increase health and pharmacy insurance, and provide new worker protections. All 1,400 people, who range from caseworkers to communications staff, will have a vote on the contract.
“It is a pathway to make sure [workers] have the things they need in their workforce, because they bring so much talent,” said De Los Rios. “Often they are not adequately compensated, especially in a county that has such a high cost of living.
“The union belongs to everybody.”
BCEU is among the most recent group of BoCo workers to unionize, but they’re hardly the first. Some local groups have reached a contract, but some are still fighting for one while other efforts have gone belly up.
“Unions are not magic wands, but it is up to our bargaining unit to determine how strong our unit will be,” Barber said. “What we’ve seen with our organizing committee so far is that this is going to be a very strong union.”
‘Better for everyone’
Union membership in Colorado is growing, but with only about 7% of the state’s workforce in unions, that’s still below the 10% national average, according to Axios reporting.
At Spruce Confections, workers reached a contract about a year after voting to join the local Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco and Grain Millers Union (BCTGM) in 2021, according to Noah Hill, a barista and organizer.
Through the contract, Hill estimates about 100 workers got raises as well as improved job security, healthcare benefits and paid time off. In a few months, that contract will need to be renegotiated, but Hill said he’s feeling optimistic.
“In the beginning we had to have some tough conversations with management and really push for what we needed,” he said. “But our position was always that a unionized shop is better for everyone. Better wages, better benefits, better job security means less turnover and more experienced workers, so everyone wins, and we have seen that in action. … We have a really good working relationship” with management.
Not all unionization efforts and contract negotiations go so smoothly.
Employees at Brewing Market, which has locations in Boulder, Lafayette and Longmont, voted to unionize and join the BCTGM in 2022. The effort came amid safety concerns and an alleged lack of transparency surrounding tips, according to Salem Malfer, a former Brewing Market employee and organizer. By Malfer’s account, ownership attempted to dissuade employees throughout unionization and contract negotiations.
After a large number of employees either quit or were fired, Malfer said, ownership at Brewing Market called for a recount of union members — a majority of employees was required.
“Ultimately, the union dissolved,” Malfer said. “The president (of the BCTGM) kind of asked us if we were interested in trying again, and most of us basically were like, ‘We have to move on.’
“We can’t spend another entire year making poverty wages and trying this again with no guarantee that it’s gonna go anywhere.”
A Colorado Sun analysis found last year that of the 143 petitions to form a union filed with the National Labor Relations Board since early 2020, only 63 won their election. Just 16 of those 63 confirmed they had reached a contract.
United Campus Workers Colorado, a union affiliated with CWA advocating for workers at CU and CSU, doesn’t have a contract at all; university employees don’t have collective bargaining rights under state law, and the university doesn’t formally recognize the union.
Still, they’ve had “pretty incredible wins” through collective action, said Patrick McKenzie, the president of UCW Colorado and a graduate worker at CU Boulder.
Among those wins are a stipend for resident advisors, dental coverage and a student fee waiver for graduate workers, which he said saved those employees thousands of dollars each year.
The group has also been running a fair pay campaign, demanding a 20% cost of living adjustment for grad workers and university staff, a $14,000 per-class minimum for non-tenure track faculty, a $10,000 raise for each teaching professor promotion, and an annual 6% cost-of-living adjustment for grad workers, staff and non-tenure track faculty. In fall 2023, the group held a walkout for their demands.
“It’s still ongoing work,” McKenzie said. “We’re really fighting for the wages we deserve as workers at the university in the hopes that improved working conditions will mean improved teaching conditions and learning conditions for our students.”
Fighting the good fight
For the Eldora Ski Patrollers Union, the path has been anything but easy. Patrollers voted 29-3 in April 2024 to unionize with the United Professional Ski Patrols of America. The Powdr-owned ski resort initially objected to the vote, stalling efforts, before eventually pulling the objection a few months later.
Organizer Nick Lansing, in his fourth year as a patroller at the ski area, said the company used various union-busting tactics to hamstring efforts.
“A lot of us who were more intimately involved in the process were targeted in the workplace,” he said. “There were efforts to intimidate and to scare and to threaten even status of employment. It was really sad to see, honestly.”
Now, as the company and union have moved into contract negotiations, Lansing said the goal is to not dwell on the past and focus on “the greatest good that can come from this.”
“It’s kind of a balancing act, I think, between trying to keep your focus on the contract and building something for the team while remembering that there is still a power imbalance.”
Lansing and other organizers hope the contract will address things like wages and raises, working conditions and overtime thresholds.
“More so than any one line item,” he said, “it’s building something where, holistically, the people we represent are satisfied and feel like we have made it easier for them to envision being here long term.”
Reaching a contract can take as little as three months, according to President of the Boulder Area Labor Council Alejandra Beatty. But sometimes it can take years.
Starbucks workers are negotiating a contract under Starbucks Workers United that would serve for all unionized stores. More than a dozen of the company’s Colorado stores have unionized, including five in Boulder County.
Holden Sheftel, a shift supervisor and organizer who was part of the effort at Boulder’s first unionized Starbucks at 2400 Baseline, said it can be difficult to make ends meet, especially in a city like Boulder. He recently moved in with a friend outside the city and now commutes to work.
“During COVID, wages just weren’t keeping up with what we needed them to be,” he said. “In Boulder, we had a cost-of-living adjustment and at some point during COVID, it went away — which was surprising, because that time period wasn’t known for prices going down. Workers talked to management, and nothing came of that.”
Negotiations began in April 2024; in December, workers across the country went on strike over unfair labor practices and what they say was the company’s refusal to negotiate fair wages and raises. Now, there’s been “a lot of progress” on negotiations for a contract Sheftel hopes will include an hours guarantee and wage increases.
“A lot more can be done than I originally thought by people coming together and advocating for themselves,” he said. “It’s been amazing to learn … the amount of power that we actually have as a unit.”
Other organizers agreed that despite the challenges and frustration, solidarity and relationship building is the name of the game. They’ve been galvanized by the change made possible by working as a collective.
“I don’t think it’s a secret or controversial to say that working people in this country have been getting screwed for a long time,” said Spruce Confections’ Hill. “The federal minimum wage hasn’t gone up in 16 years, and a lot of people that I talk to have to choose between paying for groceries or rent. … I know how easy it is to get burned out when you’re thinking about the scale of that problem.
“The antidote that I’ve found is acting locally. It’s easier than you might think to make a real difference in your life and in the lives of the people who stand next to you every day.”