Colorado CWAers' Visits with Lawmakers Prove Vital in 2011 Session

Colorado CWAers march near capitol on Lobby Day. Their personal visits with lawmakers helped pass two bills sought by Local 7777 and helped stop a bill that aimed to take away union rights.

As flame-throwing governors and lawmakers in other states sucked up all the media oxygen, Colorado’s GOP-led House thought it could pull a fast one on workers as its 2011 session wound down last month. But CWA helped make sure that didn’t happen.

The legislative session had largely been free of the workers’ rights battles being waged in other states, but with just three days to go, House Republicans introduced a bill to end collective bargaining for public employees.

Even though the state’s Democratic-led Senate was unlikely to follow suit, CWA and other unions weren’t taking anything for granted.

For those three days, the statehouse halls were filled with activists having “heated discussions” with representatives and their staffs. “All of us were collectively hammering them nonstop,” CWA Local 7777 Legislative-Political Director Sheila Lieder said.

But it may well have been two earlier trips to the capitol by 20 CWA members from Pueblo that saved the day. Visiting their local representative, Republican Keith Swerdfeger, they talked to him about other bills important to CWA.

And they were successful. The Pueblo members and other CWAers around the state won unanimous support in both the House and Senate for two, very practical bills. One helps guard against identity theft, allowing telecom technicians and others with work orders to show only company-issued IDs at businesses, most government buildings and other worksites. Local 7777 President Lisa Bolton said her members had grown concerned about being forced to hand over their drivers’ licenses for the duration of their work in a particular building.

The second bill was a financial boost for CWA-represented taxi drivers. Previously, they only could pick up fares within a 20-mile radius of downtown. When they dropped off passengers further away, they had to return with an empty cab. Now they can pick up return fares.

Swerdfeger, a contractor who uses union labor, remembered the Pueblo members’ visits when CWA’s Lieder approached him during the session’s final three days. “Do I need to get them back up here a third time?” she asked him. He saved them the trip, making it clear to House leadership that he would vote “no.” That meant the House, split 33-32 in favor the GOP, would be a vote short.

“It goes to show how important our personal contact with legislators is, and what we can accomplish when we never give up,” Bolton said.