Colorado Gov. Polis vetoes pro-union bill, while pro-union referendum makes ballot in Utah

DENVER and SALT LAKE CITY—In what would be a political flip-flop, Democratic Gov. Jared Polis, as expected, vetoed a key piece of pro-union legislation in trending-blue Colorado. At the same time, a pro-worker referendum has been certified for the November 2026 ballot in next-door deep-red Utah.

Confusing? Yes. But it shows that, if anything, both politicians (Polis) and voters (the Utahns) can defy political prognostication.

First, Colorado: The pro-worker bill, SB2025-5, the Worker Protection Act, passed the state House 43-22 on a party-line vote on May 6, a day before the legislature adjourned. Polis vetoed it ten days later. Union leaders said workers would remember next November.

The bill would eliminate a controversial second election that unions must win to represent workers in Colorado. The first election is the federal recognition election, where the union must win 50%+1 of all voting workers to win recognition.

However, the second election, unique to Colorado, would let unions charge dues only if they won 75% of the votes. It was enacted in the 1940s when Colorado was more conservative and at a time of rising anti-unionism. It effectively makes Colorado a right-to-work (for less) state.

“At its core, this is about who has a say in whether union dues are deducted from employee paychecks,” Polis said. “To my mind, mandatory dues deduction should require a high bar of both participation and support, particularly at a time when hardworking Coloradans are concerned about the cost of groceries, the economy, and their job security.”

Polis said there should be a “high threshold for worker participation and approval for bargaining over mandatory wage deduction.”

“The governor will have to demonstrate what his support for labor is,” if he means to run for higher office next year, retorted Assistant State Senate Majority Leader Jennifer Bacon, D-Denver, a prime sponsor of the Worker Protection Act. Polis is term-limited, and a U.S. Senate seat is opening up in 2026.

Though unions strongly supported Polis in his gubernatorial runs, he vetoed three pieces of pro-union legislation in last year’s legislative session, too. Combined with this veto, their support for him next year is doubtful.

“Governor Polis has chosen to protect an 80-year-old, anti-union law over the rights of working Coloradans,” said Stephanie Felix-Sowy, leader of Colorado Worker Rights United and president of SEIU Local 105, in a statement.

“He is now the only Democratic governor in the country defending a ‘right to work’ policy that undermines worker freedom and shields corporate power. Nurses, janitors, caregivers, and service workers across Colorado won’t forget, and we’re just getting started. Gov. Polis may have caved to corporate pressure today, but workers are building a movement that he can’t veto.”

The unions not only vowed to bring up the Worker Protection Act again next year, but they’re going to put another pro-worker measure to the voters in November 2026. They filed a notice for a referendum to ban businesses from firing any worker without just cause. One such banned firing was for union organizing.

“Employers will have to provide documented grounds for dismissal so no Coloradan will lose their job without a good reason,” said the coalition.

“At a moment when the nation has recognized that corporate billionaires are rigging the system against us, Coloradans came together to build solidarity, worker power, and a fairer vision for our future,” said United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 President Kim Cordova. “This legislative session was the opportunity Colorado’s labor movement needed to build the power needed to pass pro-worker policies, whether through legislation or at the ballot.”

Negotiations on the bill, SB5-2025, lasted during the entire legislative session this year, with the governor’s top aide mediating. But they were unsuccessful. So at 1:39 pm on May 6, the state House approved the measure as written and pushed by unions, sending it to the governor.

“If we can’t unanimously, as members of the Democratic Party, stand with [making it easier to unionize], we’re going to continue to lose working-class voters,” lead sponsor Rep. Javier Mabrey, D-Denver, warned. “It should be a no-brainer for us to vote for it and for the governor to sign.”

Repeal of the second election drew national attention. Sen. Bernie Sanders, Ind-Vt., stopped in Denver as part of his anti-oligarchy national tour to publicly lobby lawmakers for the measure. And AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Fred Redmond, a Steelworker, flew in to join the fight for it.

“Only anti-union states have laws like Colorado’s. The laws of the state are actively hostile to Coloradans’ rights to choose a union and freely negotiate for better pay and workplace safety,” Redmond told lawmakers.

“Colorado’s current labor laws imposed burdensome red tape and administrative obstacles that were intentionally designed to make it more difficult for workers to form strong unions.”

Rank-and-file workers also pointed out that the second election gives bosses more time to pressure enough workers to vote “no” to sink union drives. Former Starbucks barista Liz Nielsen said she was disciplined twice for her pro-union views, once per election.

Meanwhile, next door in deep-red Utah, the state’s Republican-heavy legislature passed HB267 earlier this year, banning collective bargaining by public workers.

But the State Senate vote was 16-13, with seven of the majority Republicans joining all six Democrats voting against it. Gov. Spencer Cox (R) signed HB267 reluctantly. Utah is 3.7% unionized, compared to Colorado’s 6.9%, the national average of 10%, and the average in non-right-to-work states of more than 13%.

The Utah Education Association, aided by 20 other union locals, set out to get the 141,000 signatures needed to put a referendum on the ballot next year to repeal HB267. On May 7, they turned in 320,000, or 19% of all voters, an all-time record.

In both states, corporate lobbyists campaigned against the pro-worker causes. The Colorado Restaurant Association, representing a notoriously low-paying lobby, and both the state and Denver Chambers of Commerce led the opposition there.

The corporate-funded “Utahns for Worker Freedom” led the lobbying for anti-union HB267 and won, but then lost the petition fight. The corporate lobby still has 45 days to convince Utahns to “un-sign” their names on the referendum petition. If that fails, they’ll try to beat the referendum next year.

The Utah Education Association, a National Education Association affiliate, is urging signers to resist.

“If you signed, KEEP YOUR NAME. KEEP YOUR VOICE,” the teachers’ union posted on Instagram. “Don’t let politicians or special interests take away your right to vote. Every name matters. Every voice matters.”

“They said we couldn’t do it, but more than 320,000 people just proved them wrong,” John Arthur, a 6th-grade teacher in Salt Lake City, told the Utah Education Association. “This isn’t about politics. It’s about people. It’s about making sure the families who keep Utah running have a voice and a vote in shaping its future.”

“We could not have reached this historic success without the tireless dedication of our educator members, who know firsthand how vital it is to protect the rights of public workers,” said Utah Education Association President Renée Pinkney.

Added nurse Jessica Stauffer, president of CWA Local 7765: “This law was a solution looking for a problem. Lawmakers ignored our voices. So we took it to the people. And now they’re trying to erase us. But we’re not going anywhere.”