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Abstract
Among the citizen initiatives on the 2008 Colorado ballot, one had particularly serious consequences for labor organizations. Amendment 47, a proposal to enact a "right to work" law, would have prohibited collective bargaining agreements that provided for the compulsory payment of union dues. Section 14(b) of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), adopted as part of the 1947 Taft-Harley amendments, explicitly authorizes states to prohibit union security clauses in labor contracts. This article makes a case for the repeal of Section 14(b) of the NLRA. It begins with an overview of Colorado law on union security, starting from the Labor Peace Act of 1943 and moving forward to 2007. To conclude, the article makes a specific proposal to modify the pending the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) as a means by which a meaningful policy agenda could be brought forward.