Ray Hogler of Colorado State University, an advocate of forced union dues, recently mischaracterized [1] Colorado as a "modified right to work state." He cites a law that simply makes it just a little less easy for union officials in Colorado to impose forced union dues on employees. That law requires a secret ballot election in which a majority of eligible voters or 75 percent of actual voters must favor firing workers if they refuse to pay union dues.

Make no mistake about it, despite this procedural hurdle, union officials can still order workers across Colorado fired for refusal to pay dues once they clear it. All they have to do is quash employee dissent, and with the laws of 28 states mandating compulsory dues, they have plenty of cash to do it.

Hogler continues:

The rhetorical hyperbole about Colorado's unions does raise issues of labor law reform that are complicated, contentious and of serious consequence.

Actually, it's not that complicated, employees are either truly free [2] to choose whether to join or pay dues to a union or they're not. And in Colorado, despite Hogler's objections, the law still favors coercion over free choice.