Portside

Utah lawmakers are another step closer to banning the state’s public labor unions from collective bargaining. The move has angered the education community who use this process, as do the Salt Lake City police and fire departments. And not all Republicans are on board with the plan.

Republican Rep. Jordan Teuscher’s bill still allows individuals to join unions, but they would have to bargain for things like better wages and working conditions on their own instead of with a union representative negotiating on their behalf.

Teuscher argues that because not all public employees are union members, some voices are not being heard during those negotiations.

“I feel really strongly that this is the best option to ensure that all voices are heard throughout our government employees,” Teuscher said on the House floor.

Still, HB 267 is strongly opposed by the state’s largest teachers union and other public unions.

Democrat Rep. Hoang Nguyen said she received thousands of messages ahead of the House debate. Several public labor unions, like the Utah Education Association, encouraged their members to reach out to lawmakers.

“My concern lies with our public servants who feel like this bill would take away their ability to collectively work as a body to negotiate better working conditions and wages for their group,” Nguyen said. “I feel this bill will further jeopardize and destabilize working families who are working hard to build their community and make sure that we ensure a brighter future for our kids here.”

Republican Rep. Doug Welton is a teacher in the Nebo School District and voted against the bill. While there are parts of the bill he supports, like providing a non-union professional liability insurance option for teachers, he has significant concerns about ending collective bargaining.

“I understand that the union doesn't represent all teachers,” Welton said. “I worry that this will further remove their voice.”

Welton thinks it's unlikely that every teacher will advocate individually for their needs. He also said individual entities can opt out of collective bargaining if they don’t like it.

Two individuals hold signs opposing HB267, the public labor union bill, at a public education rally held by the Utah School Boards Association at the Utah State Capitol, Jan. 27, 2025.

Republican Rep. Ray Ward, who also voted against it, said the people he’s heard from appreciate the support they’ve received from the union in important matters. He worries the bill is telling people that the Legislature is the only representative voice they have and would make some Utahns feel less heard.

Republican Rep. Troy Shelley, who voted for the bill, doesn’t think that’s a bad thing. He argued that elected officials should be the ones to represent Utahns and not unions. If teachers have a problem, Shelley said they should go to their principal or school board.

“What a union does is create an avenue to circumvent our elected officials.”

While it would affect all public unions, the Utah Education Association feels the bill especially targets them. In his closing remarks, Teuscher highlighted the things lawmakers have done in recent years to support public education. He also claimed the education union was opposed to giving teachers a pay raise — although the union opposed the legislation because it was tied to creating a new school voucher program.

“Let me emphatically say, one more time, this bill does nothing to take away the ability for unions to advocate for their members,” Teuscher argued.

The Associated Press reports that Utah’s proposed bill is more extreme compared to legislation in other states that restricts collective bargaining.

Teuscher said he has spent “countless hours” meeting with groups who would be affected by his bill. The Utah Education Association said Teuscher did not meet with them until the day before the bill was first heard in committee, several days after the bill was published. Teuscher said, right now, the labor organizations he’s met with are opposed to his bill.

“I'm continuing to work with them, and we are continuing to work on maybe potential compromises to the bill that would make them neutral on the bill,” Teuscher said, but he did not outline what those compromises might be.

In addition to ending collective bargaining, the bill would also require unions to report certain information to the state’s Labor Commission and prohibit giving unions special treatment in terms of access to public resources. If a union wanted to use a room in a school to meet, for example, they would have to pay any fees that other groups have to pay to rent that room.

HB 267 cleared the House on a 42 to 32 vote with 18 Republicans joining Democrats in voting against it on Jan. 27.

Utah Education Association President Renée Pinkney told KUER after the vote that she was disappointed and felt like lawmakers were not listening. The group’s petition opposing the bill has almost 13,000 signatures.

“We believe that our voices are being silenced if we do not have collective bargaining and are recognized as the bargaining agent,” she said. “It isn't just about working conditions. It's about a competitive compensation package that honors our role as educators.”

The bill now heads to the Senate.