DENVER — Labor Day is a chance to celebrate American workers and the contributions they make to society. For labor unions in Colorado, it’s also a chance to take stock of what they have been able to accomplish for workers and the challenges that still lie ahead.
“Colorado has a deep labor history,” said Nicole Speer, a Boulder City Council member and supporter of labor unions. “Unions have been under attack for many decades now, so we're in a rebuilding phase."
Denver7 caught up with Speer at a union rally following the Louisville Labor Day parade on Monday. She appeared there alongside union leaders and various political candidates for office.
Speer said unions are needed now more than ever.
“So many of us are being laid off,” said Speer. “When our health care is being taken away, when our rights are being taken away, that's exactly what we need to keep going and keep fighting.”
Speer was among those who lost their job earlier this year.
"I worked at the University of Colorado Boulder, running a research facility for over 13 years," she told Denver7. "But because of all the funding cuts and delays at the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, there wasn't enough money to keep supporting all of us who work there."
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, an agency within the U.S. Department of Labor, union members accounted for 7.7% of wage and salary workers in Colorado last year, a slight increase from 6.9 % in 2023. However, membership is down from 11% in 2018.
When it comes to the percentage of wage and salary workers who belong to a union, Colorado ranks far below many Democratic-controlled states and alongside many Republican-controlled states.
“Colorado has one of the most stringent standards for forming a union, so unions basically have to vote twice,” said Speer.
Unions and their supporters pushed for a bill to get rid of the two-vote requirement during this year’s legislative session, but Governor Jared Polis vetoed the bill, saying mandatory dues should require a high threshold of worker participation and approval.
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“I was very disheartened at the situation with the Worker Protection Act,” said Sharron Pettiford, the president of the Colorado Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU).
Pettiford said she’s also watching things at the federal level very closely.
Thousands of federal workers have been laid off this year, and hundreds of thousands more have lost union protections due to executive orders by President Donald Trump. Black Americans, who make up 18% of the federal workforce compared to 12% of the country’s population, have been disproportionately impacted.
“We're under attack,” said Pettiford. “I think the targeting, especially in terms of Black workers, are at an all-time high.”
Despite their setbacks, unions and their supporters say there have been successes this year. Speer said one accomplishment was fighting against a state bill they described as “terrible” because it would have made changes to tipped workers’ wages.
The bill, House Bill 25-1208, still passed and was signed into law, but unions and their supporters say thanks to their efforts, it was a watered-down version.
“There was a corporate-backed force at the State Capitol that was working to lower tipped workers’ wages because they felt like it was getting too high,” said Speer. “We were able to fight back.”
They plan to continue fighting in the years ahead.
