(DENVER) – Nearly 750 public sector workers in the city and county of Denver have joined the Teamsters. A group of 67 workers in the Audit Services Department and Clerk and Recorders Office have joined Teamsters Local 455, and 682 workers in the Crime Lab and Department of Transportation and Infrastructure have joined Teamsters Local 17.
“We started organizing with the Teamsters to hold the city of Denver accountable for years of conditions getting worse and failing to look out for our best interests,” said Jesus “Chuy” Lopez, a member of Local 17 and a solid waste collection operator. “We need a Teamsters contract not just for us but for future workers. When workers have the dignity and respect we deserve, we have the resources to treat and serve Denver the way it deserves.”
“I chose to organize so my colleagues and I could have real decision-making power, fair wages, and meaningful benefits. Denver residents deserve an Auditor’s Office that provides rigorous, independent oversight regardless of who leads it,” said Jordon Monk, a member of Local 455 and internal senior auditor. “Elected auditors come and go, but our commitment to Denver does not. A union contract honors that dedication and allows our office to continue producing award-winning audits year after year because the people who produce them have a reason to stay.”
These organizing victories come on the heels of an over 20-year battle to get collective bargaining rights for these hardworking city and county workers. For public sector workers in Denver to have the right to organize a union, a change to the city’s charter was needed. In November 2024, voters overwhelmingly supported the ballot measure allowing these workers to form a union.
“For decades, Teamsters fought alongside these workers to secure them the right to collectively bargain,” said Peter Finn, Director of the Teamsters Public Services and Health Care Division and International Vice President At-Large. “With those rights secured, they were finally able to take action and work to secure a better future for themselves by joining the Teamsters. We look forward to helping this group negotiate their long awaited first contract.”
Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.3 million hardworking people in the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico. Visit Teamster.org for more information. Follow us on X @Teamsters and on Facebook at Facebook.com/teamsters.
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