Gov. Polis has broken another campaign promise, thank goodness.
This one to his own employees, state workers, to whom he pledged in exchange for votes that if elected, he would give them full union powers including collective bargaining.
But that’s not going to happen, Polis says, because he still needs time to figure out how the system works. Maybe next year, he promised.
The news may come as a surprise to fans of Gov. Polis. A number of unions endorsed the governor during his campaign. Polis also mentioned the importance of collective bargaining directly in his State of the State address, saying, “We will protect the rights of workers to organize and collectively bargain for the pay and benefits that they deserve.” That statement and others drew a clear contrast with governors in Republican states who have championed “right to work” laws that undercut the power of unions.
Democrats introduced a bill this session, but without Polis’s support they just dropped it.
The legislative session ends this week. We hope to be writing many more obituaries like this one about bills gone bad and to the wayside.