Ballot issue 1: What does collective bargaining mean for Colorado Springs?

A big issue on the ballot for Colorado Springs’ upcoming election is collective bargaining for the city’s firefighters. It’s a proposal that impacts both taxpayers and firefighters alike.

So far, nearly 41,000 ballots have gone through machines to be counted for the April 2 election. But there are still hundreds of thousands that haven’t been mailed in. For an off-year election, those numbers are expected.

But as ballots continue to get counted, Mayor John Suthers worries the main issue at hand remains a little confusing for some voters.

“I was shocked to find a lot of people in Colorado Springs have no clue what collective bargaining is,” he said.

Collective bargaining essentially allows for firefighters in Colorado Springs to have a representative negotiate their pay with city leaders. Right now, the city council and the mayor look at revenue and demand to allocate pay.

“Collective bargaining is an attempt to override what the council and the mayor think are the proper allocation of resources, saying, ‘no we the firefighters want a bigger piece of the pie than you’re offering us,'” he said.

Suthers believes people may not realize that voting yes for this issue could cause a domino effect.

“If you do that for firefighters, how are you in fairness going to say, ‘oh police can’t do that, or utility linemen can’t do that, or snow plow drivers can’t do that,’ and so anybody who votes for this better be prepared for the whole city to eventually unionize,” he said.

But John Roy with the Colorado Springs Professional Firefighters Association says it’s about more than just pay. He says it would also ensure funding for equipment and repairs despite who is in office.

“With the high turnover in government, a lot of the reasonable decisions we’re making fall to the wayside,” he said.