Denver voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure last week that gives new labor rights to public employees in the city. Thousands more city employees will be allowed to join unions and engage in collective bargaining with their employers, starting in 2026.
About 65 percent of voters approved of Referred Question 2U, the pro-union measure.
For many city workers, this has been a long time coming.
Lauren Seegmiller, a longtime Denver Public Library employee, is a member of Denver Public Library Workers United. The union isn’t formally recognized by the city and hasn’t held a union election, but members see a new opportunity after the November vote.
The union initially formed to create a “culture of care and solidarity” among library workers, according to Seegmiller. While union members pushed for change, it was hard to gain momentum without collective bargaining rights.
“As a union, what we could do was limited,” she said.
But now that Referred Question 2U has passed, the union is looking to grow, with an eventual aim of being officially recognized by the city. Collective bargaining means that unionized groups of employees can negotiate and sign contracts with their employers, setting conditions on pay, time off and more.
City workers can’t unionize until 2026, but they can start organizing
Seegmiller said she’s already having conversations with other unionized workplaces to get a better understanding of what they can aim for in a contract.
At top of mind is wage increases and better benefits. While Denver's minimum wage of $18.29 is among the highest in the country, collective bargaining advocates said that Denver’s public employees struggle to afford life in Denver.
“A lot of the people that I talked to in our membership couldn't even vote for [the collective bargaining ballot measure] because they don't live in Denver,” Seegmiller said.
Stephanie Felix-Sowy, president of SEIU Local 105, urged city employees to start reaching out to organizers across the city in preparation for 2026. She said SEIU, which typically represents janitors and health care workers, is prepared to meet demand from city employees looking to unionize.
“We have 8,000 members in the state of Colorado and we have a wide variety of organizing opportunities that we're doing both in health care and service work,” she told Denverite on election night last week.
In all, about 7,000 more public employees are eligible for union membership starting in 2026. That will only happen if they choose to organize and hold union elections. Denver’s police, firefighters and teachers are already represented by unions.
With unions comes the possibility of strikes or labor slowdowns. Under measure 2U, strikes would be permitted, with stipulations. Employees of Denver County Court and Denver Water are prohibited from striking. Strikes or slowdowns that “substantially threaten public health, welfare or safety” are also prohibited.
