In
Colorado, labor unions and their allies faced an ideological assault by rightwing business leaders pushing three initiatives (47, 49 and 54) aimed at diminishing workers rights in the state: 

Measure 47 would turn Colorado into a “right to work” state where non-union members would be able to receive union-negotiated benefits without paying their share of costs in negotiating those contracts.

Measure 49, what opponents call a Paycheck Deception bill, would prevent public employees from having union dues or even contributions to the United Way deducted automatically from their paychecks, an attempt to cripple union funding. Measure 54 purports to be an anti-corruption measure to stop political contributions from government contractors, but its deceptive fine print defines all public employee unions as “contractors” and thus barred from participation in the political process,

In response, labor unions in the state filed their own set of pro-worker and corporate accountability initiatives, including a requirement that Colorado employers show “just cause” before firing employees (as we discussed a few weeks ago here ).

The result were negotiations between Colorado unions and the mainstream business community that led late last week to an agreement by the unions to drop their initiatives, in exchange for 75 top Colorado executives agreeing  to oppose the anti-union initiatives.  As part of the agreement the Colorado executives will raise $3 million to contribute to the campaign to defeat anti-union initiatives.

Anti-Worker Initiatives in Other States:  A Paycheck Deception  initiative, similar to Colorado’s Measure 49,  is also on the ballot in
Oregon as Measure 64. 
South Dakota’s Measure 10 combines Colorado’s Measure’s 49 and 54 in an attempt to politically silence worker voices throughout that state as well. 

Even in the midst of the subprime credit meltdown, unsavory financial institutions in Ohio and Arizona have mobilized to repeal limits on the interest rates charged by payday lenders in those states