An interesting by-product of the tossed-salad that has become of the American political scene of late is the resurgence of union politics. How this plays out depends a great deal, of course, on which state you are talking about, but even that could ultimately be dependent upon the looming backdrop of the new administration. And with the political compass in Washington now more or less spinning freely, the fate of relative labor policy is not exactly the cut-and-dried matter it once was.

Here in Colorado, the predominant organized labor issue is Senate Bill 005, dubbed the “Worker Protection Act”, and predictably bulldozing its way through a Democratic-majority legislature. The bill, for those of you who do not follow anything of a political nature in the state and just stumbled upon this as a fortuitous happenstance, would essentially unravel the 80-year-old Labor Peace Act. Enacted in 1943, following years of tumult surrounding labor organization that at times turned violent, the act is a negotiated compromise that allows a shop to unionize on a simple majority vote of workers; but then requires a second vote of 75% to approve a union security agreement — the authorization to compel the collection of union dues via paycheck withholding. SB-005 does away with the second vote — not a small thing, when you consider that is the key provision that has kept the state from pursuing full right-to-work laws, while being close enough to one to maintain a healthy business climate. Some put the Labor Peace Act alongside TABOR, the flat income tax and the balanced budget requirement as the pillars that have kept Colorado’s economy from careening into the abyss despite all efforts to push it there.

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Contrast this with next-door neighbor Utah. They too have put a union bill front and center, but unlike Colorado their legislative majority belongs to the other party. Gov. Spencer Cox signed a bill into law this month which prohibited collective bargaining from public-sector unions. In doing so, Utah joins North and South Carolina as the only states to ban local and state government collective bargaining, no exceptions. Nine other states have less restrictive limitations. The argument is fairly simple: unlike unions in the private sector, which have to negotiate with employers in a competitive economy, public-sector unions negotiate with the people whom they helped put in power. This cozy situation tends to costs the governments in question  – and the taxpayers who fund them — a hefty sum.

Now, looming in the background of all this is a new president and a new administration. That new president happens to nominally be a Republican, and conventional wisdom informs the observer Republican administrations tend to be less sympathetic to union demands than Democratic ones. But even the dear non-political reader who accidentally stumbled upon this column knows this is not a conventionally Republican president.

Relevant to the discussion here, consider President Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who moved a step closer to the post after being cleared by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee this week. She cleared that committee with the unsurprising help of Democratic senators, including Colorado’s John Hickenlooper. Unsurprising, because Chavez-DeRemer counts among Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard as President Trump’s most left-wing picks for cabinet positions. She is easily the most pro-union Republican in living memory, having relied heavily on union backing to win her congressional seat as a Republican in deep-blue Oregon back in 2022. Notably, she is a concerted proponent of the PRO Act, which would repeal every state’s right-to-work laws, and the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act, which would enshrine the right of public sector unions to collectively bargain in all states.

Chavez-DeRemer’s nomination by Trump was, of course, a quid pro quo to the Teamsters union, whose boss stayed neutral in the election. But it tracks with the economic populist tilt infecting the modern Republican Party. So it remains quite unclear which direction the federal administration is going to go on labor issues.

Obviously, that could have an enormous effect on states like Colorado and Utah grappling with labor issues. A lot remains uncertain, especially in Colorado, as to the future of labor relations, including what Gov. Jared Polis will do with SB-005, and whether the re-ignition of labor wars will spur ballot measures from one side or the other. Of course, should Chavez-DeRemer become Labor Secretary, and President Trump’s mood on a given day compel him to give her free rein, the question may just become moot.

Kelly Sloan is a political and public affairs consultant and a recovering journalist based in Denver.