The Two-Year Duct Tape Solution
March 2, 2001
"This building is rather top heavy with business lobbyists," Senator Joan Fitz-Gerald, D-Golden, said to UAW members at the state capital for UAW Labor Day March 1.
Nothing reduces some of that "top heavy" weight plaguing our state capital over the last few years faster than direct action by Colorado's voters.
For too long in this state, corporate lobbyists, who don't often speak out for our working interests, have had a very receptive audience in both chambers of the state capital and, for the last two years, the governor's office.
But now, some of those business lobbyists are getting a different reception. Instead of the 'sounds good to me' comments they were probably used to hearing from most of our state representatives, Big Business interests are hearing representatives such as Fitz-Gerald ask, "Who does this hurt? Does it hurt the working men and women of Colorado?"
This change in reception was demanded by Colorado voters, who decided in the November elections that it was time to balance the "Big Business as usual" politics with the needs of the everyday person.
Across the state, people went to the polls in November and made the "Mile Hi Miracle". For the first time in 40 years, Colorado has a labor-friendly Senate.
There was a sense that legislation was only for Big Business and the wealthy , said new Senate Majority Leader Bill Thiebaut, D-Pueblo. Now, with a little balance, there can be legislation for the everyday people, he added.
So , what now? The struggle for workers' rights isn't over by any stretch of the imagination. Case in point, remember the original Taft-Hartley bill that holds the right-to-less provision? It passed over President Truman's veto because 126 democrat representatives and senators, a vast majority were from the south, voted to override. Eighteen out of the 20 democrat senators who voted for Taft/Hartley in 1947 were from states that either had or were to quickly add a right-to-less law. (That goes back to the fact that unions were beginning to challenge that ever present "social fabric of the South" in the 30s and 40s.)
It's easy to see why we cannot relax in our fight for some semblance of workers' rights even with a labor friendly majority in the state senate. Presently, we have the two-year duct tape solution in tack. In order to keep our victories out of the "temporary fix" category, the work for the 2002 elections has begun so we can hold on to the senate and possibly even seat a pro-labor state house. Maybe then, instead of a little equilibrium, full balance between business and worker interests will be returned to Colorado.
If you feel like doing a little more than pulling the lever at the voting booths, you can always email, call or write your state representative and senator and tell them your stance on bills pending in our state legislature. After the recent election miracle witnessed in this state, most elected officials may be a little more receptive to their constituents' points of view.
Everything begins with us. The more we are involved, the more we stand to gain in the state capital.