Colorado Workers Celebrated Unions at Annual Labor Day Picnic

Honored movement that fights for living wages, healthcare and dignity at work

LOUISVILLE, COLO. – Today hundreds of workers celebrated that unions have provided their path to a middle class life at the annual Louisville Labor Day Picnic. Organized by the Boulder Area Labor Council, the event focused on strong unions’ ability to negotiate health insurance, a secure retirement and wages that allow families to buy homes, afford groceries and send their kids to college.

Colorado Worker Protection Act

With the promise of a new governor, workers committed to ensuring the Worker Protection Act becomes law in 2027. Passed by legislators during the 2025 and 2026 legislative sessions, the bill was vetoed by Gov. Jared Polis both times. To level the playing field for workers trying to negotiate with powerful billion-dollar corporations, the Worker Protection Act will:

  • Eliminate Colorado’s 75% supermajority second election requirement to negotiate union security 

  • Protect workers from intimidation by their employers for union organizing 

  • Allow workers to form a strong union to bargain for better wages and safer workplaces

“The time to pass the Worker Protection Act and make it easier for working people to form strong unions is long overdue,” said Rep. Javier Mabrey, the sponsor of the Worker Protection Act in the Colorado House of Representatives. “Democrats have had the power to change this broken system for too long, and we haven’t succeeded. In an era of unprecedented wealth inequality and growing instability in our democracy, our ability to get this done will be a measure of whether we are capable of delivering the big, structural changes working people need. We cannot keep asking families to wait while billionaires and massive corporations grow more powerful. It’s time to make it easier for workers to organize, build strong unions, and have real power over their wages and working conditions.”


Stronger Unions, Stronger Communities

With families struggling to afford to live in Colorado, unions are the best way to raise wages so they can afford skyrocketing housing, grocery and gasoline costs. When workers have the freedom to come together to form strong unions, they gain the power they need to negotiate the pay and other benefits they and their coworkers need to build a stable future. Unions represented at the Labor Day event included the Colorado AFL-CIO, UNITE HERE Local 23, Teamsters, AFSCME,  National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United, and SEIU Local 105.


“We need strong unions to counter the billionaires enriching themselves by rigging the system against workers and fair pay,” said Dana Velasquez, a Clinica Family Health and Wellness crisis clinician and SEIU Local 105 member. “Workers deserve a real voice so our wages keep up and we can afford to support our families and build strong communities. It’s time for Colorado to embrace unions and the worker power that ensures we all can thrive, not just the wealthy few.”

Colorado Worker Rights United is a coalition of labor unions and community groups building worker power through organizing and solidarity in Colorado. CWRU is dedicated to modernizing Colorado’s labor laws to make it easier to organize and empower Colorado workers, 70,000 of whom are currently organizing to form a union.

Boulder Area Labor Council is a democratically elected body dedicated to represent the interests of working people at the state and local level. We mobilize our members and community partners to advocate for social and economic justice and we strive daily to vanquish oppression and make our communities better for all people—regardless of race, color, gender, religion, age, sexual orientation, or ethnic or national origin.  We work together to gain strength by planning and working with local unions whose members live or work within BALC's  6-county area: Boulder, Broomfield, Clear Creek, Summit, Lake and Gilpin counties.

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