The summary of the bill reads:"07-1072 eliminates the requirement that, in order to validly enter into an all-Union agreement, the all-Union agreement must be approved by the affirmative vote of at least a majority of all employees eligible to vote or three-fourths or more of the employees who actually voted, whichever is greater." Workers still vote for collective bargaining representation, but now they only have to vote once.

Will Trembly, Chief Executive of the Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce is quoted saying, "This serves notice to employers and those considering doing business in Colorado that the free-market system is under attack." How can that be? It is the same law enacted in 1943, but with the lone alteration. A closer examination reveals Mr. Trembly's confusion over just where the attack is and who is attacking.

We live in the richest country in the world. Yet, 90% of the wealth is in the hands of fewer than 10% of the population. Since the mid-70's, productivity has risen at a steady rate, yet workers' pay has actually declined. Even President Bush recently remarked that income inequality is real and the gap between rich and poor is twice what it was in 1980. Certainly, those 10% rightfully earned every cent, but the data seems to indicate that workers are under attack, and the free-market system is working well only for the large corporations.

To underscore the controversy, Senator Wayne Allard stated he wants to abolish the minimum wage to enable the private sector to attract, recruit and retain the best possible employees. Allard believes companies will reward increased productivity with higher compensation. The statistics mentioned previously showed that workers' pay decreased even during periods of productivity and economic advance even with a minimum wage in place. What would the decline have been without a minimum wage? It seems common people need to fear corporate greed more than collective bargaining.

A close friend is a member of a Union. Despite a mutually agreed upon collective bargaining agreement limiting forced overtime to 16 hours a week, the company he worked for routinely forced employees 20, 30 or more hours overtime per week. At Christmas, the company rewarded employees with $25 grocery gift cards, and, when they set productivity records, the company rewarded them with tokens good for cans of "pop". They each got one token. Is this the free-market system under attack that will reward increased productivity with higher compensation? Thanks for the gumball, Popeye! That might be an adequate reward if those were first graders, but these are people with families trying to cut a piece of the pie. I cannot imagine where those workers would be if they relied solely on the free-market system and the kindness of their employer.

The truth is every person in America benefits daily from collective bargaining. You do not have to belong to a Union to benefit from what they gain for their members. If you work a seven-day workweek, if you get weekends off, if you get any paid benefits, if you get holidays, if you get sick pay, if you get vacations, and if you have job security, then you benefit from the gains Unions make for their members. Those are the things we now take for granted which resulted from collective bargaining in a free-market system.

Union workers make 44% more than their non-Union counterparts. Non-Union companies give similar benefits to their employees to retain them and to keep them from jumping to Union employers. If you do not get those benefits, if you do not get those wagesor if yours are compromised in any way, then you understand perfectly just which side of the free-market system is under attack.

Everything I state here is fact and can be backed up with documentation, but don't take my word for it. I invite you to research the statistics yourself at the Government website www.dol.gov. For a complete PDF file of the Colorado Labor Peace Act, tune your computer to www.coworkforce.com/LAB/labor%20%peace%20Act.pdf. There are varied viewpoints on the impact of this bill, and you may not agree with me, but there is little doubt that a close examination of fact will lead to insight.