More than 27,000 of us are working hard to deliver the services that Coloradans rely on. Many of us are too often working double, or even triple shifts, or doing the jobs of two or three workers.

Every one of us deserves respect at work. We also deserve peace of mind about being able to make ends meet at home – to know that we won’t be struggling just to be able to pay the bills and support our families.

That’s what being in our union is all about: working together to make state workers’ lives better, at work and at home.

Since winning collective bargaining rights in 2020, we’ve negotiated two contracts and a wage re-opener which together add up to more than one billion dollars in investments in state workers.

Our first contract meant wins like a $15 minimum wage for all state jobs, increased on-call pay, and raises to support our families.

For many, this meant getting our first-ever raise as state workers!

This summer, we went back to the bargaining table, and came up against an employer citing budget shortfalls and saying a hard “no” to a lot of what we were asking for. But in the end, our persistence paid off and we bargained a contract we can be proud of.

We make our lives better at home.

We are putting more money in our pockets and keeping it there, making it a little easier to get by and do the things we love to do.

The wins in our latest contract mean our paychecks are growing thanks to across-the-board cost of living raises of 2.5% in year one and 3.1% in year two.

We’re also keeping money in our pockets by getting the employer to pay 100% of any health care premium increases over the life of this contract: this win adds up to $30 million in savings for state workers.

Together, these wins bring a little more peace of mind to state workers and their families.

We make our lives better at work.

We make our work life better by winning more respect and better working conditions.

For example, we’ve set new standards so that when we’re asked to take on more work–often to make up for staffing shortages– supervisors have to review what’s happening and either compensate us for that work or let us say no.

We’re also building better work/life balance negotiating clear definitions for in-person, hybrid, or remote employees and an end to surprise returns-to-office mandates for remote employees.

We also won clear expectations for those of us who are scheduled to work on-call; If you’re not scheduled to be on-call, you have no obligation to pick up the phone on your day off. What's more, if you’re exempt from on-call pay, but still scheduled to be on-call, you’re now owed an additional incentive by your department.

And we’re working hard to win more!

• State workers deserve a more equitable pay system that recognizes total years of service. That’s why we have refused to take “no” for an answer, and are celebrating our biggest win yet: we bargained a process that includes a timeline and measurable outcomes to get us to implementation of a new Steps system on July 1, 2027.
• Too many of us are struggling to afford to live where we work, so we also negotiated an employer-supported process for exploring concrete housing relief solutions that we can fight for in our next contract.
• Many of us also still need protections not covered by our state-wide contract, so we’re also at the table with the employer to improve collective bargaining for state entity agreements.

Together, in our union, we are working hard to make state workers’ lives better at work and at home. The more members we have, the stronger we are, and the more we can win. So if you aren’t already a member, join us now, and help us build a brighter future for all of us.