Colorado Worker Rights – a coalition of almost 80 organizations and businesses in Colorado – is dismayed with your public statement against SB24-205. You have chosen to support venture capitalists and big technology companies when you refused to take a stand for Colorado workers. 

Labor and consumer groups worked for an entire year to seek compromise, offering many concessions to industry. The venture capitalists and big tech companies you are supporting are attempting to delay the implementation of a bill that was passed last year in order to obstruct negotiations. 

Every day, AI is making consequential decisions for workers and consumers but they are completely unaware of it and have no recourse if they are harmed by those decisions. By interfering on behalf of these companies, you have undermined consumer and worker protections that are desperately needed as AI is deployed across Colorado.

Although your letter references the stakeholder process, you didn’t take the time to check in with labor and consumer groups – key stakeholders in the negotiations of this bill. Instead of engaging with workers, you’ve taken a public stand with corporations. 

We were especially shocked to see your signatures on a letter supporting a state bill after your stated protocol preventing state-level policy involvement justified your refusal to take a public stand on the Worker Protection Act. 

While our democratic institutions are being dismantled and workers are under attack at the national level, you have the opportunity to demonstrate support for workers over corporations. We need elected officials who will boldly champion workers’ rights and the Worker Protection Act is the most consequential piece of worker rights legislation Colorado has seen in generations. You have a choice to make: You can stand with workers or you can stand with corporations. You can't do both.

Your private platitudes that you support workers are no longer enough. It’s time you demonstrate integrity between your words and actions and make a public statement in support of the Worker Protection Act today. 

Sincerely,

CO Worker Rights United Co-Chairs

Dennis Dougherty, Colorado AFL-CIO

True Apodaca, SEIU Local 105

Matt Shechter, UFCW Local 7