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Less than 1 percent of hands-on construction workers in Colorado are women. One group wants to encourage young girls about the variety of jobs in the industry through an interactive field day.

Union representatives told Congresswoman Yadira Caraveo at a roundtable this week that a communication breakdown is preventing their members from working on projects receiving federal funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act. They also discussed apprenticeship programs and barriers undocumented people face when hoping to join a union.

Before the pandemic, restaurants accounted for nearly 10% of the state’s labor force. Since the pandemic began, restaurants and the workers who keep them running have been hit hard. An apprenticeship program is pairing young people looking to start a career in the food industry with restaurants looking for help.

The King Soopers strike is emblematic of a broader labor movement sweeping the country, and parts of the Mountain West, as workers walk out for better pay and benefits or unionize to harness their collective power.

Grocery store workers in the Denver area went on strike Wednesday after their union rejected the latest contract offer from a chain of stores owned by Kroger Co., the nation’s largest traditional grocery store chain.

The U.S. is in the midst of another COVID holiday season, and federal laws that offered COVID-related paid sick leave to workers have expired. Colorado, Los Angeles and Pittsburgh are among a small number of places that have put in place their own COVID protections, but many sick workers across the country must wrestle with difficult financial and ethical questions when deciding whether to stay home.

Northern Colorado schools are seeing a noticeable absence of school bus drivers, and this industry is only the latest casualty of the ongoing worker shortage.

On today’s episode of Colorado Edition, we hear from janitors who went on strike at the Denver International Airport. We also learn about a new amendment proposal on the November ballot. Plus, we hear about the role of harm reduction techniques in addiction recovery services.

Colorado restaurants are thriving in the front of the house, but behind the kitchen doors is a major worker shortage.

There’s an ice shortage in parts of the Mountain West, so you may not be able to buy as much as you need for that backyard gathering. The shortage is due to a big increase in events, the heat wave and a labor shortage. Distributors say it’s especially hard to find truck drivers to deliver the ice.