CONTACT
Frank Valdez
Colorado Education Association
fvaldez@coloradoea.org
(720) 372-8888 Cell
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 25, 2022
Colorado Education Association Statement on Introduction of Collective Bargaining Bill
CEA will continue to fight for a bill that benefits all public workers in Colorado
DENVER, CO – Today, the Colorado state Legislature introduced a collective bargaining bill, Senate Bill 22-230, Collective Bargaining for Counties. The following statement can be attributed to Amie Baca-Oehlert , high school counselor and president of the Colorado Education Association:
“No matter what school we work in — whether it’s in a small town, the suburbs, or in a large city, as educators across Colorado, we all want our students to thrive and succeed. Our students do better when their educators can collectively bargain with their districts.
“We support the ability of ALL public workers across the state of Colorado to be able to form unions, be recognized and collectively bargain. We are disappointed to not see a bill that covers all Colorado public workers and that doesn’t contain strong provisions like strike rights and bargaining unit formation decided by workers. You can look no further than the Denver metro area New America Schools (NAS) as evidence why Colorado public workers need collective bargaining rights. After months of stalling, the NAS board voted last week to decline recognition of the union in a school system where 77% of the teachers voted to unionize while nearly 50% of the staff have quit in the past 6 months. Collective bargaining rights for all shouldn’t be a debate. While providing rights to some public workers, such as county workers, is a step forward, we still have a long way to go to ensure that all public workers have basic fundamental rights to form a union and collectively bargain.
“The 39,000 members of the Colorado Education Association stand with all public service workers in Colorado and will continue to work toward securing the fundamental rights of all workers to have a legitimate voice in their workplace.”
# # #
About the Colorado Education Association
The Colorado Education Association is the voice of 39,000 educators, working together in a strong union to ensure all students get the exceptional public schools they deserve, in every neighborhood across the state. As Colorado’s largest labor union, CEA works collectively with all education stakeholders to ensure Colorado’s standing as an excellent state in which to learn, live, work, and raise a family.