BoCo employees move to unionize
Employees of Boulder County filed for union recognition, CPR reported, becoming the second group to utilize a new state law allowing county government workers to unionize.
Senate Bill 22-230, Collective Bargaining for Counties, was enacted in July 2023. Library workers in Jefferson County were the first to take advantage of their new rights, voting to unionize last month.
An election has not yet been scheduled for the Boulder County Employees Union (BECU), the organizing force behind the union drive. The county employs more than 2,100 full-time workers, although it is unclear how many will be eligible to join.
Across the country, government workers are much more likely to be in unions compared to other sectors. In 2023, the rate of union membership in the public sector (32.5%) was five times that of the private sector (6%), according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
Despite the recent increase in unionization efforts, U.S. union membership rates are still far below historic levels. In 1983, the first year for which data is available, 20.1% of American workers were represented by a union, according to BLS, compared to half of that today.
In other news…
- Owners of Eldora Mountain Resort are challenging the results of a recent vote to unionize, citing the exclusion of volunteer ski patrollers, Colorado Sun reported. Read more: bit.ly/eldora-union
- Colorado landlords now have to renew leases for tenants who are following the rules, under legislation signed by Gov. Polis on Friday. Previously, property owners could decline to renew a lease without a specific reason. Under the new law, called “just cause evictions,” renewals have to be offered except in a few specific circumstances, which include non-payment or other lease violations, sale or renovation of a property, or conversion to a short-term rental.
- CU Boulder hired Penn State’s Justin Schwartz as its new chancellor, replacing Phil DiStefano, the university’s longest-serving chancellor. DiStefano announced his retirement in September after 15 years in the role. Schwartz will take up the post July 1.