Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed into law late Friday a bill that will prohibit government entities from negotiating contracts with unions representing public employees — including teachers, firefighters and police.
“Utah has long been known as a state that can work together to solve difficult issues. I’m disappointed that in this case, the process did not ultimately deliver the compromise that at one point was on the table and that some stakeholders had accepted,” Cox said in a statement after signing the legislation.
Union leaders were shocked by Cox’s sudden decision.
“Looks like Utah will become the most anti-labor state in America,” said Jack Tidrow, president of the Professional Firefighters of Utah. “Pathetic.”
Renée Pinkney, president of the 18,000-member Utah Education Association, said, “the only word I have is disappointed.”
“We believed he was very supportive of public education and he was very supportive of the Utah Education Association,” Pinkney said, “and that clearly is not the case.”
AFL-CIO President Jeff Worthington wrote in a statement that he’s “shocked that Utah is so proud to take on the reputation as the most anti-union, anti-working families state in America!”
“Utah has always been a state of opportunity where the youth of our state could get a good job with affordable healthcare benefits and retirement benefits,” he said. “A place where they could afford to buy a home, raise a family and live comfortably. We’ve gone so far as to advertise ourselves to the rest of the world to come to Utah, the greatest place to raise a family.”
“And now,” Worthington added, “we are taking away the very opportunities for anyone to prosper in a state that would rather be divided into the land of the haves and have not.”
Sponsored by Rep. Jordan Teuscher, R-South Jordan, HB267 now bans collective bargaining with any public employee union. He argued unions don’t represent all of the employees covered by contracts and shouldn’t be the ones at the negotiating table.
But unions mobilized in huge numbers, with thousands of members filling the Capitol over the span of two weeks, flooding lawmakers inboxes with emails and rallying in the Capitol rotunda calling on Cox to veto the bill.
He did not.
In a last-ditch effort to avert the nuclear option, unions earlier this week reluctantly got behind a push to pass a softened version that would allow the union to bargain on behalf of workers if a majority voted to be represented by the union.
That version was originally floated by Sen. Kirk Cullimore, R-Cottonwood Heights, in hope of getting unions on board with the plan. But he jettisoned the idea when some unions balked at supporting a bill that would weaken their existing rights.
Sen. David Hinkins, R-Orangeville, agreed to try to push the milder bill, hopingCox might veto the Teuscher bill in favor of a less-onerous path.
“This gives him an alternative, and gives him an out if he wants it,” Hinkins said this week.
But Republican leaders were frosty to the idea. Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, said he did not want to revisit the issue and was “tired of it.” House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, said he supported the ban and would hate to see collective bargaining spread to public employees statewide.
It is unclear if Hinkins’ bill would preempt the Teuscher bill if it passes, but it is unlikely that it could pass with opposition from leaders in both chambers.
Union leaders have said that they were exploring a citizen referendum if Cox signed the bill. That would require gathering more than 140,000 signatures in 40 days to put the issue before voters on the 2026 ballot. If they gather enough signatures, HB267 would be put on hold until the referendum is decided.
This is a breaking story and may be updated.
