A coalition of public labor unions, called Protect Utah Workers, started gathering signatures Saturday in an effort to overturn a state ban on collective bargaining — a process where an employer and a union negotiate wages, benefits and other aspects of worker compensation.
Under the law, new labor organization employees will also be excluded from participating in Utah Retirement Systems, which provides retirement and insurance benefits to public employees.
Utah Education Association President and former Park City School District teacher Renée Pinkney said educators, law enforcement, electricians, bus drivers and more are part of the coalition.
“This referendum is about restoring fairness, dignity and the ability for workers to have a say in their wages, working conditions and futures,” she said.
However, HB267 sponsor Rep. Jordan Teuscher, R-South Jordan, said the law is an effort to guard public resources from subsidizing union activities.
Thousands attended eight launch events Saturday in Northern Utah, the Salt Lake Valley, Utah County and Southern Utah to sign the referendum. More than 1,500 volunteers signed up to help with the signature-gathering effort.
The coalition now has 30 days to collect at least 141,000 valid signatures to qualify a citizen-led referendum for the 2026 ballot. That’s almost 5,000 signatures a day that must be collected in person.
Pinkney previously told KPCW the coalition plans to gather 200,000 signatures as a buffer.
“While this coalition is strong, this fight is ultimately about the individuals and families who make up our communities, the people who drive our kids to school, who ensure public safety, who test our water and who work every day to keep our state running,” Pinkney said.
At a kickoff event in Murray, public workers shared how unions have helped and supported them. Josh Dietz, a lab technician in the infectious disease wing of Utah Public Health Laboratory, said to an emotional crowd that unions helped him and his wife afford fertility treatments.
“I would not have my family without the protections that unions provide. I would not have the stability and strength that I have in my life,” he said. Working in the infectious disease lab — it is nothing but the unexpected, but I take great pride in helping keep Utah safe.”
Ben Jordan, a lab chemist and a member of the local American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union, said the union helped him secure a stable job in 2012 after he was laid off in 2009 and owed more on his house than it was worth.
Jordan said through the union job he has been able to become more experienced in his field, pay for costly medical expenses and put aside money for retirement.
“Before this union job, I was on the edge of losing it all. For anyone who thinks public employees are just getting fat off taxpayer dollars, I think you're confusing us with certain legislators,” Jordan said to cheers from other union workers.
But not all Utans are in favor of unions. The Salt Lake Tribune reports Utah’s chapter of Americans For Prosperity praised the Legislature for its “courageous action to make sure public funds do not go towards causes that aren’t in their best interests.” One provision of the bill, for example, prohibits unions from using public facilities, like a school building, to hold meetings, which some argue subsidizes union activities.
HB267 goes into effect July 1. However, if the signature threshold is met, the law will be put on hold until voters determine its fate at the ballot box in 2026.
Protect Utah Workers Coalition:
- AFSCME Local 1001
- Utah School Employees Association
- American Federation of Teachers
- Teamsters Local 222
- Utah Public Employees Association
- Salt Lake Valley Law Enforcement Association
- Communication Workers Association Local 7765
- Utah Education Association
- International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers L354
- Sheet Metal Workers L312
- United Mine Workers
- American Federation of Government Employees
- International Union of Painter Allied Trades
- United Mountain Workers
