Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Colorado has kind of a strange place when it comes
to aspects of labor law in this country. There are
quite a few states that are right to work states,
which means that you cannot be required as a condition
of employment to have to pay dues to a union.
Then there are a bunch of other states, which I
think the majority of states, where you can be required
(00:22):
to allow a union to steal your money as a
condition of having a job. Colorado is a weird state.
We have this thing called the Labor Peace Act, which
theoretically does mean that a union could steal your money
as a condition of having a job, but it's fairly
difficult to do so. With that as the background, let's
bring in my good friend, an occasional radio colleague, John Caldera,
(00:45):
president of the Libertarian Independence Institute right here in Denver.
And John, so tell us what's going on.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
You had you had it almost right. But actually there's
a majority of states that have we call right to work.
Really twenty six states. Twenty six have a and I don't.
I don't see it as a right to work. I
hate that it really is. It is a right to
associate and that we as Americans believe you should associate
(01:17):
with whomever you wish, which means you don't have to
associate with those people you don't like, which is why
you don't invite me over anymore. You have that you
have that right to do so. So my friends around
the country are like, hey, Keldera, why don't you pass
a right to work law? You know you put things
on the ballot all the time, you ought to do this.
(01:38):
And my answer has always been, while we have this bizarre,
one off thing that nobody else in the nation has
called the Labor Peace Act. It's kind of a halfway
measure that unions can form at fifty percent vote of
the workers, which is something that the employees that I
I have been trying to do for years, but we're
(02:00):
we beat them down. But if you have to have
seventy five percent of the workers to coerce money out
of people who don't want to pay it in union dues,
and that's wrong because still you've got seventy five percent
majority forcing the other twenty five percent. If you want
to work, you're going to pay us. It's protection money.
(02:20):
But my feeling was always we're not going to be
the first to break the labor piece that has been
holding for eighty years here in Colorado, this halfway measure
that Colorado has, and now the state legislature is looking
poised to pass something that would break that and allow
a smaller number of workers to coerce money out of
(02:44):
out of their coworkers' paychecks, to which we said, well,
since you're the ones who threw the first punch, we're
going to try to throw the last. And we're putting
together a protect workers' rights amendment, which is a worker's
right to work, an initiative which would be on the
ballot next year to allow people the freedom to associate
(03:07):
or not associate.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
And just to follow up, you use the word amendment there,
so I want to make sure we're being technically correct.
Are you proposing an amendment to the state constitution. And
the reason that's important is it needs to get a
higher percentage of the vote to pass if it is
an amendment to the state constitution.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
As we have it right now, it is an amendment
to the state constitution which would require fifty five percent
of the population here in Colorado to protect workers' rights.
And you know, Colorado is an odd place, even though
it is a hard progressive Blue. It's not a workers
union state. It's not Michigan, it's not Detroit. And so
(03:44):
people understand that we should have the relationships we want
and not be forced into relationships we don't want. And
it's one of the reasons, for instance, Tabor has been
so beloved here in Colorado. Even though we have a
very liberal, progressive voting base. They still want the ability
to have consent over their taxation, and I think people
(04:05):
want consent over who they associate with.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Okay, I'm gonna play Governor Paulis for a second. Ready,
go John, if you promise to kill your ballot measure,
I will veto Senate Bill five.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
My answer to that was, and I told them Governor
I would be very open up doing that. But just
like this silly trade war or tariffs, the unions have
now put together an initiative for something called just Cause,
which sounds like it just goes man, but what it
would do is something even worse to Colorado's economy and
(04:44):
require employers to show that they have cause to fire someone.
And if the unions are going to put forward something
like that onto the ballot, there's no way we're pulling
hards off.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Can you just we only have about a minute here,
But can you just give folks a sense, because you've
done this a lot of what's involved getting a constitutional amendment,
a ballot measure of any kind, really onto a state ballot.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
People who say it's too easy to get something on
the Colorado ballot have never tried to put something on
the Colorado ballot. Every year it gets more expensive and
more tricky to do so, and it can cost a
million to a million and a half dollars to help
to hire petition gatherers to go around to all the
different districts required to do so. It's a big deal.
(05:34):
The labor unions seem to want to pick this fight.
My suspicion is even if Governor Poliss wants to veto
this measure, they'll just wait a couple of years until
a Governor Wiser or a Governor Bennett would be happy
to put it in there. So this is an issue
that we might be able to put off a little while,
(05:54):
but we're going to have to have this discussion in Colorado.
Do we protect workers' rights to associate and have consent
over where their paycheck goes?
Speaker 1 (06:03):
Yeah, like I agree with that mindset. I agree with
that train of thought. And I would just say to
my many listeners who are not fans of Governor Jared Polis,
and you know, very very much of what Governor Polis
supports in terms of policy I oppose and John opposes.
But what I will say and then John can agree
or disagree, and then that's probably about all we're gonna
have time for. But if you think it's bad, now
(06:25):
wait until you see what a hard core liberal governor
will do. Right. Jared is fairly left. He does have
some slight libertarian tendencies that he loves it when people
call him libertarian, even though he doesn't.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Call himself, and that just angers me and rump in
on this and say he cares about his image. But
I would almost prefer he be honest instead of saying, no,
I believe in lower taxes, but I keep raising them
called fees. Yeah, you know, I'm a libertarian, but I'm
taking away your gun right. I'm libertarian, but I'm going
(07:01):
to destroy businesses with all these environmental laws. No, he
is a hardcore progressive in my book, who wants to
look like a libertarian.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
That means I'm with you on that, but don't what
do you think of my suggestion that it's at least
somewhat likely that the next governor will be worse.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
I think it is terrifying to see how Colorado has
changed from the Colorado you and I grew up in
and loved that when Jared Polis, a progressive is the
backstop to keep us from going completely over the it
just gives you an idea how leftist this state has turned.
And it's something that we need to get involved with.
By the way, let me do a quick plug. Independence
(07:41):
does A guide to Civic Involvement Project is from our
Kathleen Chandler does it. We do an online class. It's
going to be this Thursday at six point thirty. Just
go to thinkfreedom dot org. Check it out. Thinkfreedom dot
org because you can be mad at these things, or
you can get involved and change things. And that's what
you and I do and it's a lot more fun.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Thankfreedom dot org is the website for the Independence Institute
for the Civic Involvement Project. You can just hover your
mouse over where it says join us, and then you
will see the link for that events. John Calderas President
of the Independent Independence Institute right here in Denver Thanks
so much for your time, John, and let's keep in
touching us
Colorado has kind of a strange place when it comes
to aspects of labor law in this country. There are
quite a few states that are right to work states,
which means that you cannot be required as a condition
of employment to have to pay dues to a union.
Then there are a bunch of other states, which I
think the majority of states, where you can be required
(00:22):
to allow a union to steal your money as a
condition of having a job. Colorado is a weird state.
We have this thing called the Labor Peace Act, which
theoretically does mean that a union could steal your money
as a condition of having a job, but it's fairly
difficult to do so. With that as the background, let's
bring in my good friend, an occasional radio colleague, John Caldera,
(00:45):
president of the Libertarian Independence Institute right here in Denver.
And John, so tell us what's going on.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
You had you had it almost right. But actually there's
a majority of states that have we call right to work.
Really twenty six states. Twenty six have a and I don't.
I don't see it as a right to work. I
hate that it really is. It is a right to
associate and that we as Americans believe you should associate
(01:17):
with whomever you wish, which means you don't have to
associate with those people you don't like, which is why
you don't invite me over anymore. You have that you
have that right to do so. So my friends around
the country are like, hey, Keldera, why don't you pass
a right to work law? You know you put things
on the ballot all the time, you ought to do this.
(01:38):
And my answer has always been, while we have this bizarre,
one off thing that nobody else in the nation has
called the Labor Peace Act. It's kind of a halfway
measure that unions can form at fifty percent vote of
the workers, which is something that the employees that I
I have been trying to do for years, but we're
(02:00):
we beat them down. But if you have to have
seventy five percent of the workers to coerce money out
of people who don't want to pay it in union dues,
and that's wrong because still you've got seventy five percent
majority forcing the other twenty five percent. If you want
to work, you're going to pay us. It's protection money.
(02:20):
But my feeling was always we're not going to be
the first to break the labor piece that has been
holding for eighty years here in Colorado, this halfway measure
that Colorado has, and now the state legislature is looking
poised to pass something that would break that and allow
a smaller number of workers to coerce money out of
(02:44):
out of their coworkers' paychecks, to which we said, well,
since you're the ones who threw the first punch, we're
going to try to throw the last. And we're putting
together a protect workers' rights amendment, which is a worker's
right to work, an initiative which would be on the
ballot next year to allow people the freedom to associate
(03:07):
or not associate.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
And just to follow up, you use the word amendment there,
so I want to make sure we're being technically correct.
Are you proposing an amendment to the state constitution. And
the reason that's important is it needs to get a
higher percentage of the vote to pass if it is
an amendment to the state constitution.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
As we have it right now, it is an amendment
to the state constitution which would require fifty five percent
of the population here in Colorado to protect workers' rights.
And you know, Colorado is an odd place, even though
it is a hard progressive Blue. It's not a workers
union state. It's not Michigan, it's not Detroit. And so
(03:44):
people understand that we should have the relationships we want
and not be forced into relationships we don't want. And
it's one of the reasons, for instance, Tabor has been
so beloved here in Colorado. Even though we have a
very liberal, progressive voting base. They still want the ability
to have consent over their taxation, and I think people
(04:05):
want consent over who they associate with.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Okay, I'm gonna play Governor Paulis for a second. Ready,
go John, if you promise to kill your ballot measure,
I will veto Senate Bill five.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
My answer to that was, and I told them Governor
I would be very open up doing that. But just
like this silly trade war or tariffs, the unions have
now put together an initiative for something called just Cause,
which sounds like it just goes man, but what it
would do is something even worse to Colorado's economy and
(04:44):
require employers to show that they have cause to fire someone.
And if the unions are going to put forward something
like that onto the ballot, there's no way we're pulling
hards off.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Can you just we only have about a minute here,
But can you just give folks a sense, because you've
done this a lot of what's involved getting a constitutional amendment,
a ballot measure of any kind, really onto a state ballot.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
People who say it's too easy to get something on
the Colorado ballot have never tried to put something on
the Colorado ballot. Every year it gets more expensive and
more tricky to do so, and it can cost a
million to a million and a half dollars to help
to hire petition gatherers to go around to all the
different districts required to do so. It's a big deal.
(05:34):
The labor unions seem to want to pick this fight.
My suspicion is even if Governor Poliss wants to veto
this measure, they'll just wait a couple of years until
a Governor Wiser or a Governor Bennett would be happy
to put it in there. So this is an issue
that we might be able to put off a little while,
(05:54):
but we're going to have to have this discussion in Colorado.
Do we protect workers' rights to associate and have consent
over where their paycheck goes?
Speaker 1 (06:03):
Yeah, like I agree with that mindset. I agree with
that train of thought. And I would just say to
my many listeners who are not fans of Governor Jared Polis,
and you know, very very much of what Governor Polis
supports in terms of policy I oppose and John opposes.
But what I will say and then John can agree
or disagree, and then that's probably about all we're gonna
have time for. But if you think it's bad, now
(06:25):
wait until you see what a hard core liberal governor
will do. Right. Jared is fairly left. He does have
some slight libertarian tendencies that he loves it when people
call him libertarian, even though he doesn't.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Call himself, and that just angers me and rump in
on this and say he cares about his image. But
I would almost prefer he be honest instead of saying, no,
I believe in lower taxes, but I keep raising them
called fees. Yeah, you know, I'm a libertarian, but I'm
taking away your gun right. I'm libertarian, but I'm going
(07:01):
to destroy businesses with all these environmental laws. No, he
is a hardcore progressive in my book, who wants to
look like a libertarian.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
That means I'm with you on that, but don't what
do you think of my suggestion that it's at least
somewhat likely that the next governor will be worse.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
I think it is terrifying to see how Colorado has
changed from the Colorado you and I grew up in
and loved that when Jared Polis, a progressive is the
backstop to keep us from going completely over the it
just gives you an idea how leftist this state has turned.
And it's something that we need to get involved with.
By the way, let me do a quick plug. Independence
(07:41):
does A guide to Civic Involvement Project is from our
Kathleen Chandler does it. We do an online class. It's
going to be this Thursday at six point thirty. Just
go to thinkfreedom dot org. Check it out. Thinkfreedom dot
org because you can be mad at these things, or
you can get involved and change things. And that's what
you and I do and it's a lot more fun.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Thankfreedom dot org is the website for the Independence Institute
for the Civic Involvement Project. You can just hover your
mouse over where it says join us, and then you
will see the link for that events. John Calderas President
of the Independent Independence Institute right here in Denver Thanks
so much for your time, John, and let's keep in
touching us
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