Group seeking to decertify state employee’s union

BY STEVEN K. PAULSON
Associated Press Writer

Published: Saturday, January 30, 2010 5:10 AM MST

DENVER | An anti-union coalition has begun steps to decertify a state employee union, the coalition’s founder said Friday.

Dave Ohmart, who formed a coalition of about 200 people in the organization he calls Colorado LOSES, began sending out e-mails Friday to about 2,000 members of the 7,600 members of the state’s professional and financial services divisions in an effort to determine if they are happy with the state employee union WINS.

Ohmart says if a third of the 3,500 members of Workers for Innovation and New Solutions are dissatisfied, he plans to begin decertification in August, the two-year anniversary of the union’s founding.

About 3,500 of the state’s 25,000 eligible employees have joined the union from state divisions that include teachers, state troopers, transportation and other departments. Ohmart said there is no way of knowing which state workers he is polling are union members.

The poll asks state workers if they support WINS, if they voted for a state employees’ union and if they are happy with the union’s effort over the past year and a half.

“If I find state workers don’t like the union, I will try to decertify it,” he said.

The union was formed after Gov. Bill Ritter signed an executive order authorizing “partnership agreements” that will make better use of workers’ abilities and allow them to meet with management to discuss concerns.

Ritter’s spokesman, Evan Dreyer, said the governor was unaware of an effort to decertify the union, but he said the governor believes it is working well.

“We have good relations with Colorado WINS. They’ve been working with us on furloughs and other measures to balance the state budget,” Dreyer said.

A spokesman for Colorado WINS did not return phone calls seeking comment.

When Ritter signed the order in 2007, he insisted it doesn’t allow collective bargaining and doesn’t require employees to join a union or force them to pay dues if they decide against joining.

Ritter signed the executive order to show he wasn’t anti-union after angering unions when vetoed a bill in 2007 that would have made it easier for them to form closed shops, even though he had promised to support it. He said business leaders should have had more of a voice in the debate before it passed and objected to the process, not the bill.

Ohmart was among some state employees who complained the union was pushy and tried to coerce employees into joining the union.

Ohmart, an employee at the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, said he formed a group to counter the union drive. He said his recruiting signs were been vandalized and the state refused to allow him to use state e-mail accounts, even though the union has monthly access.

Ohmart said about 200 employees have contacted him asking him how to resist union pressure.

Ohmart said employees are wasting their money paying the unions because their wages and benefits are set by the Legislature and the state already has a grievance procedure. He said the union can raise millions of dollars without having to account for how it is spent.

Here is how ColoradoWINS is spending dues received from supporting Colorado members:  They sent WINS members to Maine to fight TABOR, there.  WHY is WINS spending Colorado-member dues to send Colorado State employees to Maine?

I thought ColoradoWINS was fighting for OUR best interests!

If you join WINS, or if WINS forces ALL OF US to pay some sort of maintenance fee, our dues will not always be spent here to fully support US.  As I have said before, they ONLY want our money.  They are not interested in OUR needs…only theirs.

Who are they: SEIU, AFT, AFSCME (the three national unions behind WINS).  Political organizations that spend money on POLITICS!  And, as you now know, not on Colorado politics.

If I want to support a political party, I want to send my own money, not have someone else decide where it goes.

 Maintenance fee?  Force US to pay maintenance fees?  That’s right.  As part of their charter, they are obligated to have the Executive Order made into LAW via the General Assembly!  As part of that, they will demand that non-members pay maintenance fees if we don’t join WINS and pay dues.

Help stop this!

David Ohmart

Coloradoloses@comcast.net

Governor Ritter has decided not to run for a second term. 

What does this mean for WINS?

The union has just lost its creator.  They now have to take their battle to the General Assembly, mostly democrats, who will now focus, according to the WINS charter, to create legislation making state employee unions law.  They fear that the next governor, if a republican, independent, or tea party member, will trash the executive order that allowed their existence (Scott McInnis has already stated he would do just that).  And trust me…they do not want to see the millions of dollars spent to create WINS flushed down the drain.  And, more importantly, they don’t want to lose the, up to, thirteen million dollars, they could receive annually from dues, vanish at the stoke of a pen.

            WINS is already showing that they are in dire straits by going up to peoples’ homes and, thuggishly, pushing for membership (which has fallen off).  They received just under 8,000 votes (out of 31,000) to be here, but have fewer than 3,500 members (and I wonder if that number is accurate).

            The governor has already stated he will do things that are necessary to balance the budget…things that will not please everyone.  What does he care…he’s gone now.  That places our PERA in jeopardy.  Do you really believe WINS is going to change that?  NOT!

            WINS has NO power, but they sure talk it up, don’t they.   All they want is YOUR money.

            Can you do something?  Sure you can.  Watch for my blog to keep informed about what WINS is up to.  When it gets to the point that they present their issue to the general assembly, call and write your state representatives to let them know that you are against it.

Dave