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Abstract
In early 2007, the Colorado legislature passed a bill to modify Colorado's Labor Peace Act. The proposed modification, HB 1072, would have eliminated the second election and moved Colorado to the status of a union security state rather than a "modified" right to work state. Business groups in the state mobilized an intense political campaign against the bill. This article examines the event from the perspective of right to work laws generally and as an exemplary case study of ideology and symbolism as they impact American workers. Management consultants and business lobbyists avidly painted HB 1072 as a "job killer" and an impediment to the state's prosperity. Opponents of HB 1072 repeatedly stressed that Colorado would lose competitive ground against neighboring states, most of which are right to work, if HB 1072 became law. Media coverage of HB 1072 generally promoted arguments made by business and devoted little effort to presenting factual information or to the position of organized labor.