City of Boulder 2L – Bargaining Rights Union Firefighters in City Charter

Question 2L enshrines the firefighters union’s bargaining rights in the city charter and adds about 10 pages of text to do so. After the firefighters began collecting signatures to put this question on the ballot, the city council directly referred it to the ballot.

The charter language lays out a lot of steps for negotiating and avoiding a strike, defined expansively to include a slowdown or willful absence. During negotiation, if the fact-finding recommendation is rejected by one or both sides, then the unresolved issues are presented to the voters of the city to determine which proposal shall become binding. The costs of the special election shall be paid by the side which rejected the fact-finding recommendation, or if both sides reject the recommendation, then both sides will share the cost equally.

Recommendation: leaning against the measure

The charter is not a good place for bureaucratic details about contract negotiations. Could the bargaining rights have been affirmed in the charter with the bureaucratic details laid out in the Boulder Revised Code?

And will voters want to have the final say on the firefighters’ contract when there is an unresolved disagreement? We elect city council members to oversee these details and to hire the city manager. But if the firefighters and the city council agree that these details should be in the charter – and there doesn’t seem to be opposition in the city – then we’ll probably end up with a messier charter.

Website for the Yes Side – Boulder Firefighters for a Stronger Boulder
https://strongerboulder.com/

Website for the No Side – No registered issue committee
https://kimmonson.com/colorado-voter-guide/2026/boulder-2l/


Approved Ballot Language
City of Boulder Ballot Question 2L
Bargaining Rights Union Firefighters in City Charter

Shall the City amend its charter by the addition of a new Sec. 73, "Collective Bargaining for Firefighters," as described in Ordinance 8761 which provides a charter guaranteed right for full-time fire department employees to bargain collectively over matters related to safety, wages, benefits, and all other terms and conditions employment, except those certain terms that are reserved to rights of management as defined in the proposed charter amendment, with impasse to be resolved through non-binding factfinding followed, if necessary, by a vote of the qualified electors of the City?

For the Measure ___
Against the Measure ___

Ordinance 8761 to refer 2L to the voters
https://documents.bouldercolorado.gov/WebLink/DocView.aspx?id=202824&dbid=0&repo=LF8PROD2