Colorado is not a right-to-work state, but it is not a standard union-shop state either. Under the Colorado Labor Peace Act, a private employer and a union can agree to require every worker in a bargaining unit to pay dues or representation fees, but that requirement only takes effect after the employees themselves approve it in a supervised secret-ballot election with an unusually high threshold.1Justia. Colorado Code 8-3-101 – Short Title In practice, most Colorado workers will never be forced to pay union dues unless their coworkers voted overwhelmingly to require it.
What Right-to-Work Actually Means
A right-to-work law bars employers and unions from negotiating any contract that conditions employment on joining a union or paying it money. In those states, you can work under a union contract, receive the wages and protections it negotiated, and pay the union nothing. Section 14(b) of the National Labor Relations Act lets each state decide whether to allow these union security agreements.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 164 – Right of Employees as to Participation in Labor Organizations About 26 states have banned them outright. Colorado took a different route.
How Colorado’s Labor Peace Act Works Instead
The Labor Peace Act permits what Colorado calls an “all-union agreement,” a contract clause that can require every employee in a bargaining unit either to join the union or to pay fees covering the cost of representation.3Justia. Colorado Code 8-3-108 – What Are Unfair Labor Practices The clause is not enforceable, however, until the workforce approves it in a secret-ballot election run by the Division of Labor Standards and Statistics.
The vote has to clear two bars, and the higher one controls: either a majority of everyone eligible to vote in the bargaining unit, or three-quarters of the workers who actually cast a ballot.3Justia. Colorado Code 8-3-108 – What Are Unfair Labor Practices Suppose 100 workers are eligible and 60 turn out. Three-quarters of the 60 who voted is 45, but a majority of all 100 eligible is 51. The agreement needs 51 yes votes. A strong showing among a small turnout will not do it. That is what makes Colorado’s threshold substantially harder to hit than a simple majority.
Neither the employer nor the union runs the election. The Division does, and the ballots are secret.
When You Can Be Required to Pay Dues
Your answer depends on two things: whether you work in the private or public sector, and whether an approved all-union agreement covers your job.
Private sector, no approved all-union agreement. You cannot be forced to join a union or pay dues or fees, even if a union represents your workplace. The default rule in Colorado is voluntary membership.
Private sector, approved all-union agreement. You can be required to pay dues or, if you decline full membership, fees that cover bargaining and contract administration. Refusing to pay can put your job at risk under the terms of the agreement.
Public sector. You cannot be required to pay a union anything, regardless of what any agreement says. In Janus v. AFSCME (2018), the U.S. Supreme Court held that deducting fees from a public employee without that employee’s affirmative consent violates the First Amendment.4Justia. Janus v. AFSCME, 585 U.S. ___ (2018) That ruling applies to every state agency, county, city, school district, and other government employer in Colorado.
Colorado’s 2020 Partnership for Quality Jobs and Services Act reinforced this for state executive-branch workers: the state deducts dues only when an employee authorizes it, and workers can opt out.5Colorado General Assembly. HB20-1153 CO Partnership for Quality Jobs and Services Act The certified employee organization still represents everyone in the unit, dues-paying or not.
How an All-Union Agreement Gets Approved
An election does not happen on its own. Someone has to file a petition with the Division. The petition can come from the employer, the union, or at least 20 percent of the employees in the bargaining unit. Confidentiality is protected by statute. The Division keeps the names of petition signers private, and no Division employee may reveal who signed a petition or how anyone voted unless a court orders it.3Justia. Colorado Code 8-3-108 – What Are Unfair Labor Practices
If the vote clears the dual threshold, the all-union clause takes effect. If it falls short, the clause cannot be enforced, and no worker in that unit can be required to pay dues or fees.
How to End an All-Union Agreement
An approved agreement is not permanent. Employees who want it gone can push for a revocation election, but the window is narrow. The employer or at least 20 percent of covered employees can file a petition, and the timing has to line up with the contract calendar: filing must occur between 120 and 105 days before the collective bargaining agreement expires, or before a triennial anniversary for contracts that run longer than three years. The Division must complete the election at least 60 days before that expiration or anniversary. Only one such election is allowed per bargaining unit during the term of an agreement, or one every three years for longer contracts.3Justia. Colorado Code 8-3-108 – What Are Unfair Labor Practices
The revocation vote uses the same dual threshold. If keeping the all-union agreement fails to hit the higher of a majority of all eligible voters or three-quarters of ballots cast, the Director declares the agreement terminated, and the dues requirement ends.
You Get Union Representation Either Way
Whether or not you pay dues, the union that a majority of your coworkers voted in is your exclusive bargaining representative under Colorado law.6Justia. Colorado Code 8-3-107 – Collective Bargaining Unit Non-members are entitled to the same contract wages and protections, the same grievance procedure, and the same representation in disputes with the employer as dues-paying members. A union cannot refuse to help you because you chose not to join.