Dozens of public education supporters, including teachers from the Park City School District and Summit County Councilor Megan McKenna, a former educator, rallied at the State Capitol on Friday against a bill described as a union buster.
The bill, H.B. 267, would restrict the collective bargaining process for public unions, including teachers, police officers and firefighters. Supporters in the Legislature assert the bill would protect taxpayer money.
“I’m a fifth-generation teacher. My parents were in teachers’ unions and my grandparents, so I’ve seen the benefits of unions in my own life,” said Jake Jobe, a Park City High School English teacher and former Park City Education Association co-president. “That’s why I took my own time to come down here and support the UEA because that bill is devastating for unions and devastating for students.”
H.B. 267 as it was originally written would have banned employees in public unions from collective bargaining by making it a class B misdemeanor. Before the rally on Friday, the bill’s sponsors introduced a substitute that would require the “collective bargaining unit” to conduct a vote authorizing the union to speak on their behalf as a single, collective voice.
Half of employees would need to be in favor of collective bargaining for the process to be valid. The vote encompasses all staff, however, and not only union members.
The substitution followed heated debates in the Legislature over the past week, as well as public outcry from union supporters and advocacy groups. The Utah Education Association, the statewide teachers’ union, had over 15,000 signatures on an online petition opposing the bill.
“Today, we stand together, educators, workers, families and community members, as proof that when we raise our voices, we can make a difference,” said Renee Pinkney, president of the Utah Education Association and a Park City social studies teacher for over 20 years. “Over the last several days, Utah public educators and our labor partners across the state have been clear — we will not sit silently while decisions are made that impact our students, our schools and our profession.”
Pinkney said the Utah Education Association’s attorneys are still reviewing the changes to H.B. 267 proposed late last week, but she praised teachers and public education supporters across the state for reaching out to lawmakers.
“We remain committed to protecting public education and ensuring that our voices are never ignored,” Pinkney said. “Let this moment be a reminder. This is what power looks like. This is what solidarity can do, and this is why we will keep showing up because when we stand together, educators, union workers and our communities, we win. Not just today, not just tomorrow, but next session and every time we demand better for our students, our profession and our future.”
Jennifer Boehme, the executive director for the Utah Education Association, echoed Pinkney’s gratitude, adding there are sections of the bill the legal team is reviewing other than those regarding collective bargaining.
“We’re still analyzing the bill to look at the changes and what the impact of those changes would be,” she said. “It does open the door for collective bargaining whereas the first one had a ban on collective bargaining, so that is the biggest change that we saw, but we do still have legal eyes on it trying to analyze what the impact of that section means and what the impact of other sections that did get changed would mean for us.”
County Councilor Megan McKenna, a former Park City High School science teacher, attended the press conference alongside the local teachers.
“I ran to support the working people of Summit County, so it’s really important to me that I support all working people,” McKenna said. “In particular, H.B. 267 is an attack on public workers, and I think public workers are what drives our communities in Summit County and across the state, so I’m here today in solidarity with all of our workers, our teachers, our firefighters, our police officers, all of our public servants that really make Utah what it is. I stand by all of them today.”
Josh Goldberg, a history teacher at the high school, called the bill “an attack on Utah families” and a “power grab.”
“Democracy is dialogue,” he said. “When we cease to speak to the other side, when we cease to reach across the aisle to try to find consensus and cooperation, we cease the democratic process. The Utah way is to find commonalities and what unites us. To force a bill like this, or any other bill, through committee, through the House and through the Senate without allowing for proper vetting, listening to experts is not the Utah way, and that’s why we’re here.”
Goldberg went to the rally with Jobe, taking the second half of the day off from teaching to participate. Jobe said he hadn’t had a chance to read the substitution yet because of his morning classes, but he felt the entire process was a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist.
“I think that the associations (unions) in Utah have really good relationships already with our school districts,” Jobe explained. “This feels a bit like they’re trying to drive a wedge between us and our students and our school districts. To me, while I appreciate they’re moving in a different direction, I don’t think the bill solves any problems for us in Utah. I think it creates more problems than it solves, and it doesn’t benefit students or teachers or families.”
Anna Williams, who is the debate coach for Park City High School and teaches students whose primary language isn’t English, took the day off and arrived at the Capitol at 7 a.m. She’s worked as an educator in Park City for 20 years, and she emphasized that the bill ultimately harms students and detracts from their education.
“It’s always been about the kids,” Williams said. “If we can be the best we can be in the classroom and if we have good working conditions and a safe working environment, then absolutely that’s going to affect the students’ ability to learn effectively in the classroom. I’m disheartened to think that it’s come to this. I’m surprised, but I’m also hopeful, and I have faith in our association that we’ll be able to move away from this very damaging, hurtful bill.”
Williams said she wanted to be positive about the changes made in the substitution, adding she hopes lawmakers look closely at the language and remember the number of public union members who have spoken out against the bill in recent weeks.
“Hopefully, they saw us in the gallery this morning and they will remember the impact that this legislation is going to have on our lives and on our ability to do the best work that we possibly can do,” she said.
Instead of taking a final vote on H.B. 267 Friday morning, the Senate opted to “circle” the bill, essentially putting the process on pause indefinitely. Sen. Kirk Cullimore, one of the bill’s sponsors, said he wanted stakeholders to have a chance to review the substitute bill over the weekend.
The Senate will likely take a final vote on the legislation this week.