On Monday, January 8, the Colorado AFL-CIO introduced its 2018 Legislative Priorities during a rally at the Colorado State Capitol. The priorities reflect the needs of a diverse set of workers, including public and private sector union members, and range from expanding collective bargaining, to protecting retirement security, to promoting best value contracting and apprenticeship utilization, to ensuring workers displaced by technological advances have the resources and retraining needed to continue to be productive members of the workforce and to giving local option to minimum wage.
Colorado AFL-CIO President Josette Jamarillo issued the following statement on the rally:
“Thank you to all the members and lawmakers who attended this event. We know that Colorado is at its best when working people are sharing the wealth of our state. We know that when we raise the bar for all workers, we are growing the economy in Colorado. We know that together - we are stronger.”
Members of Colorado WINS, Sheet Metal Air Rail and Transportation (SMART), Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA), and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) spoke on each of the priorities. In attendance were also members of AFSCME, AFGE, UNITE HERE, IBEW, NALC, APUW, CWA, UA, IAFF, UFCW, OPEIU, and IUPAT. Secretary-Treasurer Mike Williams remarked on the coalition:
“Our legislative priorities reflect the diverse background of our affiliates. We’re fighting for firefighters, for teachers, for nurses, and for home care workers, for all our building trades brothers and sisters and more. But at our core, we are all fighting for the same thing: an economy that works for all Coloradans”
The Colorado AFL-CIO represents approximately 180 affiliate unions whose membership totals more than 130,000 working Coloradans. Our mission is to promote organized labor, to educate our members and the public about the labor movement, and to encourage the active involvement of all of our members in their communities.