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We make Colorado run

Our union, COWINS (Colorado Workers for Innovative and New Solutions), represents more than 27,000 state employees. We exist to make state workers' lives better—at work and at home—by winning better wages, benefits, protections, and working conditions.

Meet our members

Two men having a discussion in library setting at the Colorado Department of Corrections.

Jehnie, Colorado WINS member smiling working at standing desk.

State officer in bright vest at Colorado checkpoint

Mother and daughter walking through a park smiling while pushing her father in a wheelchair.

When we win, we win for all Coloradans

From snowplow drivers to nurses to firefighters, we deliver the critical services that keep Coloradans safe and healthy. As an affiliated union of SEIU and AFT, we've fought for respect, fair wages, and better working conditions since winning collective bargaining rights in 2020—because when state workers thrive, all of Colorado benefits.

We exist to make state workers' lives better by winning better wages, benefits, and working conditions.

We're the people who deliver these services every day. We know what works, what doesn't, and what Coloradans deserve.

When state workers have a voice, everyone benefits. Better working conditions for state employees means better services for all Coloradans.

I’m proud to have been a part of building our union power and using it to bargain more than a billion dollars worth of investments in state employees. We’ve come a long way and must never take any of what we’ve won for granted.

Skip Miller, retiree, former COWINS president

What we've won together

Since winning collective bargaining rights, Colorado WINS has negotiated two contracts, a wage re-opener and state entity agreements that have together delivered investments of more than a billion dollars in state workers.

But we’re not stopping there: we’re determined to grow our numbers so we can deliver on critical goals like Steps for total time in state service.

2007

For decades, Colorado’s state workers lacked an effective voice and power over their pay and working conditions. They wanted to be able to bargain for rights–rights protected by a binding contract.
We started organizing, and by the end of 2007, pushed for and won a first official step towards winning those rights with an Executive Order signed by then-Governor Bill Ritter creating a partnership with state employees, allowing us to form a union and negotiate job and service improvements.
AFSCME, AFT, and CAPE-SEIU came together to form Colorado WINS (Workers for Innovative and New Solutions)

2008

In the summer of 2008, state workers voted overwhelmingly in favor of forming our union, Colorado WINS, and by October, had gathered at our first convention to set priorities and chart our path forward.
COWINS members made history in December by being the first-ever state workers to formally contribute to state budget discussions by testifying before the Joint Budget Committee. Members have followed in their footsteps every year since.

2009

COWINS members elected 30 representatives to our first-ever state-wide bargaining committee with a mandate to fight for fair wages and better working conditions and protections.
While other states were laying off workers and slashing programs, our union fought for and won a $14 million increase in health benefits for Colorado’s state workers.
More than 100 members participated in our first-ever lobby day at the State Capitol in February kicking off a year of legislative work that helped repeal an arbitrary budget formula, kill twelve mandatory furlough days, and maintain an important licensure.
That same year, our members mobilized and helped pass legislation to win domestic partner benefits for state workers. That was BEFORE marriage equality became law in 2015.
We also held our Founding Convention in September to adopt our Constitution and Bylaws.

2010-2016

These were the hardest years for state workers and our union. The recession meant furloughs, layoffs, and pay cuts for state employees, and as the state struggled. So did our union: by 2016, our membership plummeted and we were in dire financial straits.

2017

Hilary Glasgow became our Executive Director in 2017, determined to overcome dwindling membership–which was down to 1,200–and to get our finances in shape.
COWINS committed to getting leaner as an organization, and our leadership and members rallied, determined to grow our membership, develop more union leaders, and rebuild power to focus on winning collective bargaining rights.

2018

That determination came through at the 2018 Constitutional Convention, with members voting to raise dues to 1.5 percent of salary—where they remain today–so we could stabilize union finances.
We were more determined than ever to fight for and win a law giving us collective bargaining rights.

2019

We mobilized our members and political allies to support our collective bargaining bill, but the bill stalled when Governor Polis’ threatened a veto.

2020

COWINS worked hard to push a new collective bargaining rights bill forward, with members from every corner of the state lobbying our legislators to support our bill.
That work paid off, and when we introduced the bill, it was co-sponsored by every single Democrat in the House and the Senate.
Thanks to then-House Majority Leader, Daneya Esgar, our bill moved swiftly through the House to the Senate, where it was sponsored by Senators Leroy Garcia and Brittany Pettersen.
But immediately after going to appropriations in the Senate, the COVID-19 pandemic hit and our country and state shut down.
We picked up where we left off as soon as the legislative session could resume virtually, at the same time fighting layoffs and furloughs proposed because of the pandemic.
In June, we won, and the legislature passed the Colorado Partnership for Quality Jobs and Services Act into law, granting state employees the right to collective bargaining.
Within days, our members got ready to bargain our first legally binding Partnership Agreement with the state.

It’s just momentous, for us and for the people of Colorado. We’ve been working on this since 2007, and I couldn’t think of a better time for it to come to fruition, with a public health crisis and a budget shortfall. For us, the essential workers who are providing these services, it’s extremely important that we have a voice in how we are providing these services.

Skip Miller

Former Colorado WINS President

2021

By the fall of 2021, we had negotiated and ratified our first-ever Partnership Agreement, delivering a $450 million investment in state workers, real steward rights, and stronger union infrastructure.

State employees have been working every day to help Colorado’s families pull through this pandemic even though the state has paid many of us wages so low that it makes it hard for our own families to survive...This historic first contract shows what we can do when we work together. It is an important step forward toward protecting, respecting, and paying the people who provide essential services in Colorado and for the communities we serve every day.

Skip Miller

Former Colorado WINS President

2022

In 2022, our membership grew to nearly 5,000 members.
That fall, our wage re-opener negotiations restored the Step Raises that had been eliminated in 1998, established a $15 minimum wage, increased on-call pay, and broader pay raises.
By December, members began bargaining the first two State Entity Agreements for the Colorado Departments of Human Services and Corrections. Members at CDHS voted 99 percent in favor of ratifying their Entity Agreement, securing standards for 24/7 staffing ratios, incentives for filling vacant shifts, prioritization of seniority in promotions, and timelines to correct errors in pay.

When I first became a Colorado State Employee back in 1994, we had Step Raises, but after those were replaced with ‘pay per performance’ four years later, we went years with no raises while costs continued to rise. Once we had bargaining rights, our union brought back our raises. Finally, state workers don’t have to beg for a raise every year. Without our union, they’d still be begging.

Brian Hines

Retiree, former Correctional Officer

2023

CDOC members voted 97 percent in ratifying their first State Entity Agreement, celebrating winning a volunteer system for overtime, optional ten-hour safety breaks between double shifts, a stipend for work clothing, and greater transparency in transfers and promotions.
That fall, members started bargaining State Entity Agreements for CSU Fort Collins and CSU Pueblo. The CSU Pueblo Entity Agreement is ratified with 100 percent approval from COWINS members, securing standards for the use of call back and on-call, PPE for hazardous materials and snow removal, and 30 days’ notice before restricted leave periods.

2024

By the spring of 2024, COWINS membership had grown to more than 7,000, bringing union density to 27.99 percent.
Members at CSU Fort Collins ratified their first Entity Agreement with 97 percent approval, including provisions for seniority in filling vacant positions, the option to trade on-call shifts, and PPE for hazardous materials and snow removal.
The CDOR Entity Agreement was bargained and ratified with 100 percent approval from COWINS members, securing greater transparency in the filling of vacancies, the creation of a volunteer process for planned overtime, and compensatory time for working state holidays.
That summer we got to work negotiating our second statewide contract, and, despite a massive state budget deficit, we won $551 million in new investments in state workers, including raises and a pathway to step raises recognizing total years of state service. This meant that since our founding, we’d won over $1 billion in new investments in state workers.

In September our members attended our biggest Constitutional Convention yet, voting to expand collective bargaining rights for workers who had been written off and written out, to demand Unions for All, fight for the repeal of TABOR, and to continue to build the forward-looking, cross-racial, multi-generational union we need to win these fights.

Signing ceremony with Gov Polis and Colorado WINS members

Part of a Larger Movement

We work closely with our sister union in Colorado, SEIU Local 105, which represents over 8,000 healthcare, janitorial, security, and airport workers throughout the state and the southwest.

Visit SEIU Local 105

Together, Colorado WINS and SEIU Local 105 make up SEIU Colorado, which is building a Colorado that works for everyone, not just the wealthy few.

Visit SEIU Colorado

Our community partners

We work alongside community organizations, advocacy groups, and other unions who understand that when state workers are supported, Colorado communities thrive.

719 Align

9to5 Colorado

AFT Colorado

Center for Health Progress

Colorado AFL-CIO

Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition

Colorado Education Association

Colorado Homes for All

Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition

Colorado Peoples Alliance (COPA)

Colorado Working Families Party

El Movimiento Sigue