U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Democrat from Vermont, is urging Coloradans to contact Gov. Jared Polis and tell him to sign a bill repealing an 80-year-old law that allows labor groups, when approved by workers in an election, to begin negotiations in order to impose dues on non-union employees.     

In an email to supporters, Sanders included the phone number for Polis’ office, saying, “Bernie had promised we’d follow up with different ways to get involved, and here’s one today.”

Senate Bill 005, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Robert Rodriguez, D-Denver, Sen. Jessie Danielson, D-Wheat Ridge, and Reps. Javier Mabrey, D-Denver, and Jennifer Bacon, D-Denver, would eliminate the second election requirement of the Labor Peace Act, making Colorado a “right to organize” state. 

The measure has the support of labor unions, who say it eliminates an unnecessary barrier to unionization. 

Business groups argue it will dissuade businesses from relocating to Colorado and force workers to pay union representation fees, regardless of membership. 

Polis has said he would only sign a bill that was endorsed by both the union and business communities. This final bill has not yet made it through the General Assembly. With Senate approval, it is still waiting for a final House vote before going on to the governor.

Sanders and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York visited Greeley and Denver last month as part of their “Fighting Oligarchy” tour, during which union leaders urged state legislators to pass Senate Bill 005. As of Wednesday, the bill has passed through the Senate and is awaiting floor debate in the House.

“The power is here to make real change — generational change, because at this point in time, this country needs a worker-driven agenda,” International Union of Painters and Allied Trades president Jimmy Williams told the crowd of 30,000. “Until the Democratic Party realizes, until they realize that they have to remove the corporate control that holds them back, we have to show them what it looks like.”