Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
- Utah lawmakers are undecided on responding to a public union bill referendum.
- House Speaker Mike Schultz warns against hastily repealing the law banning collective bargaining, citing benefits of over provisions.
- Rep. Jordan Teuscher criticizes unions for bad faith negotiations and misrepresenting the bill.
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah House Speaker Mike Schultz says it would be a "mistake" to hurriedly repeal a state law banning collective bargaining for public unions in light of a referendum to overturn it, but he added that state lawmakers are still undecided about the best path forward.
While much of the public attention has been focused on collective bargaining, or the process through which unions negotiate with employers on behalf of their members, Schultz said he wants to preserve provisions that bar union employees from accessing taxpayer-funded pension benefits and that provide teachers with liability insurance in the classrooms.
"What's been overshadowed is that HB267 contained many other positive reforms that support Utah's teachers and taxpayers while improving transparency," the Hooper Republican told KSL.com. "For example, HB267 provided access to personal professional liability insurance for educators, giving them peace of mind to focus on students in the classroom. It also protected taxpayers from being on the hook for retirement benefits for labor union staff who aren't public employees.
"It would be a mistake to rush to repeal HB267 without thoughtfully considering those and other provisions that the public broadly supports."
Amid rumors that lawmakers may consider changes during a special legislative session next month, Protect Utah Workers, the group behind the referendum to overturn HB267, issued a statement two weeks ago urging lawmakers to either repeal the law in its entirety or let it stand until voters can weigh in on the referendum next November. The law was placed on hold once organizers qualified the referendum for the ballot, pending the outcome of the vote.
"Our position is clear: Every public worker in Utah deserves the right to be heard and represented," airport employee and AFSCME Local 1004 President Jerry Philpot said at the time. "The right to negotiate safe working conditions and better resources for our communities is nonnegotiable."
A spokeswoman declined to comment further.
House Republicans met in a lengthy caucus meeting during interim meetings last week, but lawmakers appear to be split on the path forward. Some, including the bill's sponsor, are still frustrated with unions and say they negotiated in bad faith when a compromise version of the bill was on the table back in February.
Rep. Jordan Teuscher, R-South Jordan, said he has had productive conversations with some unions but that the Protect Utah Workers coalition of labor groups has made it harder to negotiate.
"That adds even another layer of bureaucracy within the whole union," Teuscher said. "I believe that group decided that they don't want to engage in any of those conversations, that they would rather try to pursue their own interests and not engage in good faith conversation. So, we're disappointed with that."
He also accused unions and their representatives of misconstruing what the bill actually does and said lawmakers need to counter with their own messaging. A June Deseret News/Hinckley Institute poll found that about one-third of Utah voters would vote to repeal HB267, one-third would vote to keep it, and one-third don't know — suggesting there is a lot of persuasion to be done on both sides over the next 14 months.
Teuscher said he still thinks the bill creates the right policy, which he said was meant to "take the middleman out of the picture." He argues many nonunion employees felt they weren't represented by the groups and were effectively left out of negotiations for pay, benefits and working conditions.
Moving forward, lawmakers have several options to look at in a special legislative session this fall or during the annual general session in January. Those include fully repealing the law, waiting out the results from next year's referendum, repealing just the collective bargaining provision or tweaking the language — possibly to change the recertification process for unions or find another compromise with labor groups.
"I'm open to whatever," Teuscher said. "But it's a process where not only do we need to decide as a caucus, and as a House what we want to do, but we have to coordinate with the Senate and what they want to do; and we have to coordinate with the governor's office. And so, that is a very intricate process, and I think there's opinions on all sides. And we'll continue to work through that and do what's right for Utah workers."
Schultz said there is "a lot of agreement on certain things" within the caucus but "no clear direction" on moving forward at this point.
