The bill, HB267, is aimed at banning collective bargaining across all of Utah’s public sectors. The bill would not prevent public employees from joining or forming unions, but it would prohibit government employers from “recognizing a labor organization as a bargaining agent.”
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Jordan Teuscher, R-South Jordan, said rather than “silencing” public workers, as Pinkney put it, his proposed legislation “will enable more participation in the negotiation process and provide better benefits for our public employees.”
It would do that, Teuscher explained, by “opening up the free market” and allowing other people and organizations to have a seat at the negotiating table.
it should be noted this is almost entirely motivated by unions helping to kill several Republican referendum efforts in Utah last year. see here for more information on that:
First, there was Amendment D, their attempt to grab more power over citizen-led initiatives. It was a classic overreach, and it flopped spectacularly when lawmakers forgot to follow some very basic constitutional procedures—like publishing it in newspapers statewide. Oops. (We wrote a whole substack about it here)
Then came Amendment A, their big plan to strip a 100-year-old constitutional earmark protecting public education funding. Same deal as Amendent D, Utah Education Association (UEA) sued, pointing out that lawmakers, once again, failed to follow the rules. Instead of admitting their mistake, lawmakers doubled down, deciding that the real villains here were… teachers.
So, what did lawmakers do after these double face plants? They could’ve taken a moment of self-reflection, maybe a little “live, laugh, learn” energy. Instead, they decided the real problem wasn’t their incompetence—it was the people who caught them. Enter HB267, their petty revenge plot against public sector unions, because when you can’t follow the rules, the next best thing is punishing the teachers who can.
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It would be interesting to see their reaction to the bill. And how fast an exception could be added.
i’m sure Republicans will carve that out–but even if they don’t, it’s not like unions are a major source of police power. police can de facto strike without ever calling a labor action (which they especially do in traffic enforcement, or whenever they might face accountability from governments for abusing the monopoly on violence), and police unions are extremely sectarian, self-interested and infight-y.
