2008 Colorado Amendment 47
ballot measure in Colorado
Amendment 47 was a proposed initiative on the Colorado ballot for 2008. It was defeated.
The initiative was proposed jointly by Ryan Frazier of Aurora and Julian Jay Cole of Golden. According to the Blue Book, the state-provided ballot guide, Amendment 47 "proposes amending the Colorado Constitution to: prohibit requiring an employee to join and pay any dues or fees to a labor union as a condition of employment; and create a misdemeanor penalty for violation of this law."
If ratified, Amendment 47 would have added a new section to the Colorado Constitution, which would state, in part:
(1) This Amendment shall be known and may be cited as the "Colorado Right to Work Amendment".
(2) (a) No person shall, as a condition of employment, be required to:
(I) be a member of a labor union; and
(II) pay any dues, fees, assessments, or other charges of any kind to a labor union or to any charity or other third party, in lieu of such payments.
(b) Nothing in this section shall prevent any person from voluntarily belonging or voluntarily providing financial support to a labor union.
(3) Any person who directly or indirectly violated any provision of this section commits a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine in an amount equivalent to the most stringent misdemeanor classification provided by law.
Fact-checking
Pro-Amendment 47 political ads
KUSA, the NBC affiliate in Denver, Colorado, analyzed one of the political ads supporting Amendment 47. Among their conclusions were that the particular ad was misleading when it stated, "All it does, it gives workers the right to choose for themselves whether or not they want to join a union." KUSA's analysis states:
As it stands now, [...] federal law prohibits anyone from being forced to join a union. What Amendment 47 would really do is give workers the right to decide if they want to pay any dues to the union for the purposes of negotiating for wages and benefits.
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