{"id":537,"date":"2024-12-17T15:28:28","date_gmt":"2024-12-17T16:28:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/macroron.com\/?p=537"},"modified":"2024-12-18T17:07:48","modified_gmt":"2024-12-18T17:07:48","slug":"opinion-we-are-barely-scraping-by-give-us-a-fighting-chance-in-colorado-for-fair-wages-and-benefits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/macroron.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/17\/opinion-we-are-barely-scraping-by-give-us-a-fighting-chance-in-colorado-for-fair-wages-and-benefits\/","title":{"rendered":"Opinion: We are barely scraping by, give us a fighting chance in Colorado for fair wages and benefits"},"content":{"rendered":"

Colorado workers are barely scraping by, fighting to make ends meet while corporate CEOs and investors rake in record profits. The system is rigged against us but in January, Colorado lawmakers will be able to give workers a fighting chance by passing the Worker Protection Act<\/a> to empower workers to negotiate for better pay, better benefits, and safer working conditions.<\/p>\n

This issue is personal to me. As a former Starbucks barista and union organizer, I lived through the exploitation that far too many workers experience. Working full-time — while a full-time student — wasn\u2019t enough to cover the basics. As an insulin-dependent type 1 diabetic, I constantly fought for hours just to qualify for healthcare benefits. When I wasn\u2019t fighting for hours I worked side gigs just to make ends meet. Rent, groceries, car maintenance, childcare — all these basics were out of reach for so many of us.<\/p>\n

Corporate employers like Starbucks know how to manipulate the system to squeeze as much profit as possible. They held hours back from pro-union workers, forcing us into a corner where we had to choose between having enough hours to afford health care or risking our livelihoods to stand up for our rights. And many Colorado workers can\u2019t afford to live off their main job\u2019s wages. We pick up extra jobs just to pay rent and put food on the table. We can\u2019t even consider vacations, pay for mental health care or afford to be sick. Workers carry these burdens while corporations pad their profits.<\/p>\n

My Starbucks coworkers and I decided we had had enough. We needed living wages, and we also needed more of a say in our workplace. We wanted access to health care, fair staffing and scheduling, and a clear grievance procedure to protect our jobs when speaking up about unsafe conditions. We also needed to make sure that management couldn\u2019t discriminate against us based on personal biases.<\/p>\n

So, we decided to unionize \u2013 and Starbucks launched a brutal anti-union campaign<\/a> designed to crush any hope of fair negotiations. They surveilled us, held mandatory anti-union meetings, and subjected one worker at a time to intimidation meetings with two corporate executives. They threatened our livelihoods, slashing hours, withholding benefits, and firing pro-union employees. I was nearly fired twice during this campaign. But in the end, we fought back and we won our election to form a union<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But winning that first election wasn\u2019t enough because Colorado\u2019s outdated labor laws force workers to go through an additional hurdle: a second election, where we need a supermajority — 75% approval from all employees \u2014 to even begin negotiating union security and representation fees. Not only does this second election allow management to unleash a second harassment and intimidation campaign against workers, it also interferes with the right of workers to engage in meaningful dialogue with their employer. It\u2019s not just unfair \u2014 it\u2019s undemocratic.<\/p>\n

The Worker Protection Act will fix this. It will modernize Colorado\u2019s labor laws by eliminating the second election requirement, allowing workers to begin negotiating their contracts without facing another round of corporate bullying. It\u2019s not just about Starbucks workers, either, it will help all workers in Colorado who want to form a union to negotiate for better wages, benefits, and working conditions.<\/p>\n