Ruling Democrats at the state Capitol in Denver have been bending over backward for organized labor for years, most notably when Gov. Jared Polis signed collective bargaining power over to state government employees in 2020. 

Ever since, tens of thousands of staffers in the state bureaucracy have been able to negotiate ever higher wages and benefits — and stick taxpayers with the tab.

It was arguably the most egregious of numerous concession to Big Labor, which holds enormous sway in Democratic Party politics and is a major donor to Democratic politicians’ campaign coffers.

A spinoff measure signed into law by the governor in 2022 got less attention at the time but might wind up reaching even deeper into taxpayers’ pockets. Colorado’s “County Collective Bargaining by County Employees Act” extended collective-bargaining power to about 36,000 county government employees across the state’s 64 counties.

In some ways, it’s more onerous than the state law on collective bargaining because it effectively muzzles county governments when organized labor tries to unionize rank-and-file bureaucrats. 

The legislative act’s provisions bar counties’ leadership from expressing views that could be construed to discourage or deter unionization. That defies even federal laws that assure the right of unions to organize employees but that also call for open and robust debate between labor and management. 

The practical impact is counties can’t even point out the drawbacks of unionization without violating the state law. That encroaches on free speech and places counties that heed the state law at odds with federal law.

Counties have fought back in state and federal court, but their legal actions have been cut short on technicalities. 

As reported this week by The Gazette, the latest such effort, by Douglas County, has been dismissed by a federal judge in Denver who ruled the county lacked legal standing to sue because it hadn’t shown any harm. U.S. District Judge Philip Brimmer found the county alleged only a “speculative future harm,” rather than a “credible threat of future harm.” 

But the county did in fact suffer harm. It is awaiting a decision in another action it filed, in state District Court, to overturn a state labor department ruling that found county officials had unlawfully interfered with a 2024 effort by sheriff’s deputies to unionize. 

During that attempt to unionize, county officials, including Sheriff Darren Weekly, had sent emails, held meetings, produced videos and hired labor consultants to discuss collective bargaining and unionization with employees. 

For shame! We wouldn’t want elected local officials — whose first duty is to the taxpaying public — to explain to county employees why unionizing might, among other things, leave taxpayers including themselves over a barrel. Or maybe that a union contract might lock in pay and benefits that could constrain the county from benefiting employees in other ways. Like through bonuses or opportunities to earn extra pay, or maybe greater flexibility in health coverage.

If that strikes you as absurd, rest assured, most Coloradans likely would feel the same way. But the County Collective Bargaining by County Employees Act was nailed down in the backrooms of the Capitol with Big Labor’s lobbyists, then given a rubber-stamp vote by the Democratic majorities in both legislative chambers. The public never had much say in it.

Now, Douglas County’s citizens are going to pay for it unless the county can get relief from the court.

We’ll say it again — reiterating the wisdom of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt — collective bargaining has no place in the government workforce. It pits public employees against the taxpayers who have no choice but to pay them.

Collective bargaining is a budget buster. And once again, we have the legislature and governor to thank.