The 2016 elections will play a large role in shaping the future of the American workplace. From issues like the minimum wage to retirement savings accounts, candidates are presenting differing visions for what hard-working Americans need and deserve on the job — and from a job.

The downfall of union nemesis Scott Walker’s presidential bid has not brought an end to anti-labor policy proposals in Congress or on the campaign trail. For example, the inappropriately named Employee Rights Act is still gaining momentum.

This bill has earned numerous glowing endorsements from the likes of Newt Gingrich, but a certain veto by President Barack Obama has lulled opponents into a false sense of security. Few have come forward to point out the very real problems with a piece of pro-corporate federal legislation masquerading as a remedy for employees’ workplace problems.

Now as leading Republican candidates are vowing to sign the bill into law, Colorado employees need to know what’s at stake in the 2016 election — nothing less than their ability to collectively organize.

Right-wing rhetoric aside, the ERA is designed to chip away at union strength, and its impacts would be devastating. Upon the ERA’s enactment, the majority of unionized workplaces across the country would be forced to hold recertification elections. Employees will once again have to fight for their right to representation.

Given this unprecedented opportunity, many employers will work hard to convince employees to abandon their unions, and history shows their tactics will often be unsavory. And with the ERA’s periodic recertification requirement, any company that remains unionized in through the first round of elections can enjoy a fresh attempt at union busting every time 50 percent of its workforce turns over. A slow but sure decline in unions can be expected.

For each of these mandatory recertification elections — as well as for every new bid by workers to unionize — the ERA will set the bar for labor’s success higher than ever before. To join or remain in a union, organizers would need to win over a majority of affected employees, not just receive a majority of the votes in the certification election. This means every employee who abstains would count against the union cause. We do not hold even the election for the president of the United States to such a standard.

Employees across southern Colorado deserve better than this bill. Whether working in the skilled trades or the school system, they should be encouraged to join together to secure decent pay, a safe working environment, and reasonable benefits. Employees, regardless of whether they’re a Republican, Democrat or independent, deserve to be respected and have a voice in their workplace.

Especially concerning are the ERA’s implications for our Department of Corrections workers. Over the past several years, we’ve witnessed the Colorado GOP’s eagerness to slash their wages, overhaul the salary review process to their detriment, and resist meaningful improvement to the overtime system.

Countering these efforts has been the Colorado Workers for Innovative and New Solutions, or WINS. The union of 31,000 state employees has been fighting hard for DOC workers who put their lives on the line every day. Given the successes of WINS, some conservative politicians would like nothing better than to weaken the organization and launch a much-anticipated “race to the bottom” on DOC safety issues, wages and benefits. We should not give them the ERA to help in this endeavor.

Coloradans should instead stand up for real employee rights — the right to unionize, the right to have a voice in their own professional lives, and the right to benefit from the economic recovery their hard work has built. We can do that by supporting America’s labor organizations and sending to Washington leaders who reject the ERA.

Liane “Buffie” McFadyen, a Democrat, is a Pueblo County commissioner and served four terms in the Colorado House of Representatives.