Unions blast Ritter on lockout bill

Colorado union workers say they're angry with Gov. Bill Ritter for vetoing a bill that would have given unemployment benefits to employees locked out during labor disputes. Workers said Wednesday the governor gave grocery chains an unfair advantage in contract talks by barring them from getting benefits if they're unable to work because of labor disputes. In a lockout, an employer bars workers from their jobs during a labor dispute. Colorado's last lockout occurred in 1996 when employees of the King Soopers grocery chain went on strike and workers at Safeway were locked out. "Gov. Ritter has aligned himself with the greedy corporations and shown his true colors," said Arlys Carlson, a grocery worker for 29 years and a member of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union. Carlson said union members who campaigned for Ritter three years ago plan to withhold their support if he runs for re-election next year. Ritter said he vetoed the bill because workers currently embroiled in contract negotiations between grocery store chains after their contract expired May 9 are not out of work and shouldn't be entitled to unemployment benefits. He said the recession is putting a strain on the unemployment fund, and he wants to focus on putting people back to work. "We said in the State of the State address that this has to be about jobs. It has to be about the economy, and it has to be about how we protect people who are unemployed," Ritter said. "This is a different question for me, and we answered it with a veto." Ritter said he has "great sympathies" for the workers but thought it would be wrong to sign a bill that could affect negotiations that are under way. Independent political pollster Floyd Ciruli said Ritter had to balance the demands of organized labor against the possibility of a protracted strike and the appearance he would be rewarding unions. "There is no doubt this is going to anger his base," Ciruli said. Ritter said fellow Democrats in the Legislature didn't do Ritter any favors by forcing him to choose. Diane Mulligan, spokeswoman for King Soopers, one of the grocery chains negotiating a new contract, said the company would have been forced to pay unemployment compensation and to hire new workers if the bill had become law. On the Front Range, the King Soopers, City Market, Safeway and Albertsons chains are negotiating with the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7. Safeway's Front Range workers voted to authorize a strike but agreed to extend their contract on a day-to-day basis until May 30 while negotiations continue. On the West Slope, contract talks between the union and the grocery chains are several weeks behind. Workers locked out in a contract dispute aren't automatically eligible for unemployment benefits because of a law passed in response to a clash between the United Food and Commercial Workers and grocery stores in 1996. Union spokeswoman Laura Chapin issued a statement saying Ritter "sided with corporate interests over working families and an economic recovery." The union lobbied for the lockout bill. Chapin also noted that the grocery workers' extended contract is set to expire before July 1, when the bill would have taken effect. Colorado paid more than $5 million in unemployment benefits to Safeway workers who were locked out in response to a King Soopers strike in 1996. The Colorado Supreme Court upheld the move. But in 1999, at the urging of retailers, state lawmakers agreed to change the law, making it difficult for locked out workers to collect unemployment benefits.