Why Denver City Council aides want to form a union
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The roughly 40 Denver City Council aides seeking to form a union are setting up an early test of the city's voter-approved collective bargaining law.
Why it matters: Organizers say unionizing could help turn a high-turnover, low-paying job into a more sustainable career as Denver faces economic uncertainty.
State of play: The Legislative Workers of Denver seek protections they say would improve retention and pay, roughly ranging from $60,000 to $80,000 annually, senior council aide and union organizer Megan Ives tells us.
- Their goals include ending "at-will" employment — meaning they can be easily fired without warning — and establishing a more structured disciplinary and termination process.
Context: Council aides are often a resident's first point of contact with the city's 13 council members, Ives said.
- Drafting policy, reviewing the city's budget, helping people access city services and responding to the public's questions are some of their duties.
Zoom in: A voter-approved law granting collective bargaining rights to most Denver employees took effect in January.
- The measure — unanimously sent to voters by the Denver City Council — extended bargaining rights to nearly 8,300 more city employees.
Between the lines: Public support for unions is near an all-time high, which Ives said aides considered when making their decision.
- Ives, who works in Councilmember Sarah Parady's office, added that a majority of aides support creating the union.
The intrigue: Rather than pursuing a formal election, the union seeks voluntary recognition from the City Council — a potentially less costly path.
- Aides want to secure recognition before the 2027 municipal elections, when many of their bosses will be up for reelection, Ives adds.
Zoom out: Mayor Mike Johnston's administration revised rules governing career-service employees last year, drawing criticism from unions ahead of the collective bargaining law taking effect.
- Johnston's office says it's working with the union through the process.
What's next: The City Council had not yet recognized the union as of Tuesday, Theresa Marchetta, a spokesperson for the Office of Human Resources, told us.
- Marchetta said the council doesn't have legal authority to certify the bargaining unit, a step that must be completed by the American Arbitration Association.