Denver, CO – On Monday, September 1, over 1000 protesters assembled at the Colorado State Capitol for a Labor Day march. The march was part of nationwide mobilization entitled “Workers over Billionaires!” and was organized by a broad coalition of organizations including the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Denver Anti-War Action, Colorado Education Association, and Colorado 50501.

The program began with speeches from several labor organizers on the power of organizing.

“In 2023, we launched the biggest contract campaign in decades,” said Katherine Draken, a rank-and-file UPS Teamster and member of Teamsters for a Democratic Union, “And we won! We were ready to go on strike and UPS knew it. We got rid of the two-tier system, and we got the biggest wage increase ever!”

After the speeches, the 1000-plus crowd took to the streets and marched to the Denver Federal Immigration Court, where ICE has been kidnapping immigrants who show up for court check-ins. Along the march, the crowd chanted “What’s disgusting? Union busting!” and “When immigrant rights are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!” Then, the crowd marched back to the capitol building and heard speeches from more organizers.

The crowd then took the streets for a second march, this time to the mansion of Colorado Governor Jared Polis. Polis, a Democrat, has faced criticism for not standing up against the Trump administration. In one example, he even had Colorado law enforcement agencies collaborate with ICE, in violation of a state law against such collaboration.

“Governor Polis's administration betrayed its commitment to the immigrant community by pressuring officials to unlawfully share private data with ICE. This action undermines state privacy laws and erodes trust in public institutions meant to serve and protect all residents. We can't allow our community to be attacked by those in power, the community must fight back and take back power!” said Brandon Gehrke of Aurora Unidos CSO.

#DenverCO #CO #Labor #ImmigrantRights #Trump #NoKings #LaborDay #DAWC #CEA #50501 #CSO

Aurora, CO – On August 19, Aurora Public School (APS) workers packed into their school's offices to demand the school board put an end to union busting and give all workers the right to organize a union.

The group of Classified Education Support Professionals (ESPs) demanding unionization includes employees like special needs paraeducators, nutrition workers, custodians and bus drivers, none of whom are currently organized. These Classified ESP workers were given a fraction of the raise that licensed staff bargained for and are demanding union recognition to fight for better wages and working conditions in line with the rest of the staff.

Classified ESP workers have been fighting for over four years for the right to join the Colorado Education Association (CEA), the largest educator union in Colorado, while enduring union-busting efforts, low pay and harassment from management in their school district.

During the meeting of the APS Board of Education, workers stood up to call out the school board's union-busting efforts, chanting “Union busting is disgusting!” during a march from the overflow room, interrupting the school board meeting. During this disruption, many school officials and several paid union busters present at the event hid their faces from the crowd.

“Their union-busting practices have been really difficult to overcome. There's a lot of fear, but with our show of solidarity today, with the number we got out today, it’s pretty clear we have the numbers to win,” said ESP worker Marceline Corvus after the event.

A group of UPS workers, members of Teamsters local 455, attended the event in solidarity. Katherine Draken, a Teamster union steward at UPS, said, “Solidarity is the backbone of the labor movement, so we have to show up for our fellow workers, even if they're not in the same union or the same industry. We're all fighting the same fight.”

#AuroraCO #CO #Labor #Teachers #Educators #Teamsters #CEA #IBT455