Colorado seems to be a buzz with labor union activity. JBS meatpackers in Greeley are primed to walk if a bargaining session Friday goes sour. Denver Art Museum employees rallied last week because two years after unionizing, they have no contract. Meanwhile, table staff and bartenders at the iconic Casa Bonita restaurant have a fresh new union.
Still, 2025 was rough for local labor organizers. It began with President Donald Trump ending collective bargaining rights for workers at many federal agencies over security concerns. In May, Gov. Jared Polis vetoed a union-supported bill to end a state policy requiring workers to vote a second time to start a union. And by the year’s end, petitions to unionize in Colorado fell to 34, down 40% from the prior year when the post-pandemic peak averaged more than one new filing a week.
All that stress appears to have taken a toll on union membership, according to new data out Wednesday from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In the U.S., union membership was flat in 2025 from the prior year. In Colorado, it was down 22%, the biggest drop nationwide. The state was also in the bottom third for union density, or the percent of workers represented by a union compared to the overall workforce.
BLS economist Reid Kelley didn’t seem too concerned. The data comes from the Current Population Survey, he said, and it’s a small sample. Plus, October data wasn’t collected due to the federal government shutdown. Kelley recommended viewing Colorado data over several years, which showed that after an 18% gain in 2018, union members dropped 15.7% in 2019, then 23.2% in 2020. Between 2022 and 2024, membership increased in the state…