By Hannah Schoenbaum
Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY — Beginning July 1, unions serving Utah teachers, firefighters, police officers, transit workers and other public employees will be banned from negotiating on their behalf for better wages and working conditions.
Gov. Spencer Cox announced his decision Friday evening. The state’s legislature had narrowly approved it last week after its sponsors abandoned a proposed compromise that would have removed the outright ban.
“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 announcing he had signed the bill.
The measure did not pass with veto-proof margins, meaning that if Cox had rejected it, supporters would have needed to pull in more support to override his veto.
Utah joins North Carolina and South Carolina as the most restrictive states for public sector unions, said John Logan, a labor expert at San Francisco State University.
Its GOP sponsors argued it was needed to allow employers to engage directly with all employees, instead of communicating through a union representative.
