Posts tagged Utah
Utah Governor Cox Ensures Labor Union Bill H.B. 267 Goes to Public Vote in 2026 Election
June 24, 2025 // According to the Utah Governor's Office, Cox signed an executive order on June 23, ensuring that the referendum on H.B. 267, known as the Public Sector Labor Union Amendments, will appear on the November 3, 2026, ballot. This move is not merely a gubernatorial whim but a statutory requirement triggered by Lieutenant Governor Deidre Henderson's confirmation on June 21 that opponents of the bill had collected enough signatures to push the legislation to a public vote.
ALEC Releases Landmark State Labor Policy Rankings: States That Work
June 12, 2025 // ALEC’s new report also profiles states like Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee that have taken bold steps to protect private sector workers’ right to cast secret ballots in union elections. Meanwhile, states like Nebraska, Florida, and Louisiana also receive recognition for passing Universal Recognition laws that ensure licensed workers can continue their professions without red tape after relocating.
Op-ed: Virginia Must Clarify Its Labor Laws
June 9, 2025 // The ideal outcome for Virginia would be to repeal the Democrats’ 2020 law and return Virginia to being one of the few states that outright prohibit collective bargaining in the public sector. North and South Carolina have for decades, and Utah joined them with a new law signed by Governor Spencer Cox (R.) this year. But with Democrats currently in control of the Virginia General Assembly, a repeal effort would go nowhere. In the meantime, the proposed regulations are needed to make sure local government unions are following the law. Virginia is a right-to-work state with many strong protections for employees in unionized workplaces. Public employees deserve those protections just as much as private employees do.
5.9% of Washington Workers Are Union Members, 6th Most in the U.S.
June 9, 2025 // Union membership in the United States has declined to its lowest point in decades. In 1979, unions represented 24.1% of the American workforce. By 2024, that share had fallen to just 9.9%, according to figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and UnionStats. In absolute terms, this represents a drop of roughly 6.7 million members—from a peak of 20.9 million in 1979 to around 14.2 million in 2024.
Over 1,000 dairy worker Teamsters vote to authorize strike in Colorado, California, other states
June 4, 2025 // The union says just one or two of these strikes could cause supply chain issues. "We know how much money DFA makes, and we know what we deserve," said Peter Rosales, a Local 630 shop steward at Alta Dena Dairy in California. "This company is only successful because of us, and we take pride in our work. All we're asking for is our fair share."
Goldwater Backs Proposal to Rein in Federal Bureaucracy
June 1, 2025 // Goldwater Institute submitted a formal public comment to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) in support of a Trump Administration proposal to reclassify thousands of federal employees with policy-influencing roles to at-will employment status. The Institute’s comment makes clear that this is an encouraging step forward to ensure accountability in government, and when necessary, rein in abuses in the federal bureaucracy. States like Arizona, Georgia, Kansas, Texas, Utah, and Florida have classified state workers as at-will employees for years. As the Institute noted in its letter, “oversight and accountability are central features of efficient management practices for government employees,” both at the state and federal levels.
Independent Contractors Take Center Stage for ‘Empowering the American Worker’
May 27, 2025 // However, expert witness Dr. Liya Palagashvili showed data of the deliberate harm done through California’s law AB5 and its ABC test that is also embedded in the federal Protecting the Right to Organize Act (PRO) Act and other statewide legislation seeking to restrict the work of independent professionals. Now, these results are causal, meaning we can definitely say that ABC tests cause these negative outcomes. No other studies to date have found positive employment effects from these laws. The research shows that restrictive ABC tests do not create more work opportunities. They eliminate both independent and W-2 jobs.
UTAH: Law banning public employee unions from collective bargaining blocked by Lt. Gov.
May 8, 2025 // Lt. Governor Deidre Henderson has issued an order staying a law from going into effect that bans public employee unions from collective bargaining. The order, issued Tuesday, blocks House Bill 267 pending validation of signatures for a citizen referendum that seeks to overturn the law. It is believed that supporters of the referendum have enough signatures to get the referendum on the ballot. They submitted more than 320,000 signatures — much more than the 140,000 required. If that is the case, the Lt. Governor's Office said, the law would be on hold until November 2026 when the referendum would go before voters. The law was originally scheduled to go into effect on July 1 because of a budget item attached to the bill.
New Trump civil-service reform rule nearer to going into effect
May 7, 2025 // According to former Department of Labor official Vincent Vernuccio, who is now president of the labor nonprofit Institute for the American Worker, OPM may amend the rule or issue it as it’s proposed, which could happen within the next few weeks or months. “So, you’re talking about 50,000 federal employees—about 2% of the workforce who will become ‘at will’,” Mr. Vernuccio said. “These are still career employees,” he said. “They still have protections. They’re not changing that. It’s just that if they are in a policy-influencing position, they’re ‘at will’, and they can be removed if they’re throwing sand in gears of policy.” He added, “And if they simply don’t want to do their jobs and they don’t want to implement the policies that the people’s duly elected representatives have implemented, they can be removed.”
Podcast Newt Gingrich, Vinnie Vernuccio; Episode 837: Protecting the American Worker
May 5, 2025 // Newt’s guest is Vincent Vernuccio, president and co-founder of the Institute for the American Worker. They discuss the significant labor policy developments and legislative efforts aimed at increasing transparency and accountability in both public and private sectors. Their conversation covers the introduction of the Start Applying Labor Transparency (SALT) Act, which seeks to amend the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 to ensure greater transparency in financial transactions between unions and labor consultants. Vernuccio also explains the implications of President Trump's executive action, Schedule F, which aims to make certain federal employees at-will to enhance accountability. They also discuss the challenges posed by public sector unions and the potential impact of Senator Josh Hawley's Faster Labor Contracts Act, which could impose arbitration on private sector union negotiations. Vernuccio emphasizes the need for modernizing union models to align with today's workforce demands for flexibility and merit-based advancement.