Pueblo sheriff's office employees seek to unionize; may vote on it as soon as this month

Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office employees are one step closer to forming a union.

Pueblo County commissioners unanimously approved Tuesday an election agreement that allows non-executive PCSO officers to hold a vote and determine whether they want the International Brotherhood of Police Officers, a police labor union, as their collective bargaining representative.

The election requires a simple majority for IBPO to be approved as the union representative, Vince Champion, regional director of IBPO, told the Chieftain.

If that majority is met, PCSO employees who are eligible would officially become unionized under the IBPO labor union.

It’s unclear when the vote will be held, though Peter Blood, an associate county attorney, said it could happen some time this month. The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment will supervise the election.

There are 172 PCSO employees who are eligible to become union members, Champion said.

“Just because the officers wear uniforms doesn’t mean they don’t have rights either,” Champion said. “We represent them in anything that’s job related.”

Pueblo County Sheriff David Lucero could not be reached for comment by the Chieftain.

PCSO deputies want ‘to have a voice’

Champion said a few PCSO deputies this fall reached out to him to ask about their options to unionize after discussing it with Jimmie Quintana, who is president of the IBPO Local 537 union that has more than 190 members in the Pueblo Police Department.

Champion said he shared with the deputies how IBPO would be able to negotiate a contract on their behalf or represent them if they have a grievance, among other union benefits.

Traditionally, employees attempt to form a union because of concerns with workplace conditions or management, but that isn’t the case in this instance, Champion said.

“They just wanted to have a voice,” Champion said. “There was no fighting with the sheriff or anything of that nature. They just wanted to have a voice in how their careers move forward.”

On Sept. 7, IBPO filed a petition with CDLE’s Division of Labor Standards and Statistics to represent some PCSO employees. At least 30% of the 172 eligible members expressed interest in being represented, meeting a threshold that allowed the process to move forward.

If there is a majority vote, it’s unclear how many PCSO employees IBPO would represent because people would have to sign up to join the union. Executives officers such as the sheriff and the undersheriff, among a few others, would not be eligible to join.

IBPO has worked on PCSO officers’ attempt to unionize for months. Those officers were enabled to do so because of Senate Bill 22-230. Gov. Jared Polis signed the bill into law in Pueblo in May 2022 and it went into effect on July 1 this year.

What does the bill do?

The law expands rights for employees to unionize in counties with more than 7,500 inhabitants.

As introduced, the bill aimed to apply to more public workers in Colorado, but was narrowed down to county employees amid pushback from some local leaders and Polis, Colorado Public Radio reported.

Pueblo County Commissioner Daneya Esgar was a prime sponsor of the bill during her last year representing Pueblo at the Colorado capitol and working as the House majority leader.

"Our roots are a union town and we still call ourselves a union town. Making sure every worker has the ability to have their voices heard is important to me as a human being, but also as a county commissioner," Esgar told the Chieftain.

Statewide local government organizations as well as several local jurisdictions — including Pueblo County — opposed the bill, according to Colorado lobbying records. However, some county leaders and labor organizations supported the bill.

This was the only bill that Pueblo County lobbied against in the 2022 legislative session. Katie First, a legislative and policy advocate with Colorado Counties Inc., read a statement opposing the bill on behalf of then-Commissioner and BOCC Chair Garrison Ortiz at a House committee hearing.

"It caught me by surprise that the county was opposing it," Esgar recalled. "But at the end of the day, I knew that this was what county employees wanted and what county employees needed and continue to push for. I'm seeing how important that is as a commissioner to make sure that your county employees feel valued and feel like their voices are being heard."

BOCC Chair Epimenio "Eppie" Griego is the only current commissioner who was also serving in spring 2022. He did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Chieftain reporter Josue Perez can be reached at JHPerez@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @josuepwrites. Anna Lynn Winfrey covers politics for the Pueblo Chieftain. She can be reached at awinfrey@gannett.com. Support local news, subscribe to The Pueblo Chieftain at subscribe.chieftain.com.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Pueblo sheriff's office employees may unionize, set for vote