Much has been made over how the two major chambers of commerce have taken differing positions on this fall's right-to-work ballot initiative.

Less known is that the state's two major banking trade groups have similarly diverged in their positions.

To recap: Amendment 47, sponsored primarily by brewery heir Jonathan Coors, would ban "union shop" arrangements. At a union shop, workers must either join the union or pay fees to cover the cost of representation.

The right-to- work sponsors seem motivated by the creeping unionism of Gov. Bill Ritter's administration. Although the governor vetoed a bill in 2007 that would have made it easier to establish union shops, he subsequently ordered a watered-down form of collective bargaining for state employees.

Amendment 47 prompted its own backlash, however, in the form of a wave of labor-backed ballot initiatives that would expand businesses' legal liability or raise their costs through higher wages or health-insurance mandates.

Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce President Joe Blake calls this ballot war "mutually assured destruction." That helps explain why his group has voted to oppose not only the labor issues, but Amendment 47 as well.

The Colorado Association of Commerce and Industry, or CACI, is known as the statewide chamber. It took a different tack, endorsing right-to-work.

Now, the Colorado Bankers Association and the Independent Bankers of Colorado have mirrored the two chambers in taking separate paths.

The Colorado Bankers Association, which represents commercial banks from big to small, voted to take a "no" position on right-to-work while also opposing the labor-backed issues. President Don Childears said the group's board actually took that vote a couple of days before the Denver chamber did, but waited rather than disclose it.

"We didn't want to be the sole group stepping out," Childears said.

Childears echoes the Denver chamber when he says that while right-to-work makes sense, "we figure we're so close to it under Colorado law, you gain an inch but you lose a mile with the labor issues on the ballot."

The Independent Bankers of Colorado took a position similar to CACI. "IBC's support of Amendment 47 is consistent with the long-held belief by our community bank members that right-to-work states consistently show better job growth and economic performance," said Barbara Walker, the group's executive director.

That assertion - which the Denver Metro Chamber disputes, interestingly - must be the explanation. After all, no one seems able to name a bank in Colorado with a unionized work force, making the issue of right-to-work an academic one for the two differing bankers' groups.

David Milstead and James Paton take turns writing Up and Down 17th Street. Contact Milstead at 303-954-2648 or milstead@RockyMountainNews.com.