SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah lawmakers superior a invoice Thursday that consultants say would set up probably the most restrictive labor legal guidelines within the nation as Republicans search to curb the political affect of unions serving lecturers and different public service professionals.
The GOP proposal would ban collective bargaining throughout all of Utah’s public sectors — training, transit, legislation enforcement and extra. It will bar labor unions from negotiating on behalf of staff for higher wages and dealing circumstances.
Many educators, the state’s most frequent customers of collective bargaining, view the invoice as method for Republicans to weaken lecturers unions and clear a path for their very own training agenda.
“The hurt of the invoice will likely be borne by public college educators dwelling and dealing in each single legislative district,” stated Sara Jones of the Utah Schooling Affiliation. “It sends a message that educators don’t deserve a collective voice of their career, don’t deserve enter on their salaries or working circumstances or advantages, or don’t deserve a say within the insurance policies that influence their school rooms.”
Lecturers unions are among the most outspoken opponents of Republican insurance policies in Utah and different states the place lawmakers have sought to get rid of diversity, equity and inclusion programs, increase school choice vouchers and prohibit transgender bathroom use and sports participation in faculties.
The unions are likely to skew liberal, which Republicans argue makes them unfit to symbolize lecturers with conservative political opinions.
“We’d like all voices to be heard within the instructing career, and never simply those who align with the union and their political opinions,” stated Cole Kelley, a Republican on Utah’s State Board of Schooling who teaches highschool in American Fork.
State Rep. Jordan Teuscher, a South Jordan Republican who’s sponsoring the invoice, stated collective bargaining agreements typically prohibit staff from taking part in their very own contract negotiations, solely permitting communication between the union consultant and the employer. The invoice creates a system through which employers can have interaction instantly with all workers when addressing office considerations, he stated.
The measure handed the GOP-led Home Enterprise, Labor and Commerce Committee in a 11-4 vote with assist from among the state’s strongest Republicans, together with Home Speaker Mike Schultz.
State workers might nonetheless be part of unions underneath the invoice, however the unions couldn’t formally negotiate on their behalf.
President Donald Trump has backed insurance policies making it tougher for staff to unionize, but his populist enchantment helped Republicans make steady gains among union members within the 2024 election. Republicans have tried to carry some blue-collar staff into the fold, however largely from the non-public sector, stated John Logan, a labor professional at San Francisco State College.
“Republicans see lecturers unions as the principle impediment to remodeling public training the best way they want to,” Logan instructed The Related Press. “They need the working class on their aspect, however public sector unions, they have no use for them. Ideologically, they’re simply an impediment.”
In Texas and Georgia, solely police and firefighters have the fitting to discount. They might not achieve this underneath the Utah invoice, which additionally confronted opposition from firefighters who frightened they’d not be capable to advocate for correct employee security with out union assist.
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