By Aidan Mortensen | KOAL News | Photos Courtesy of the Protect Utah Workers Coalition

The battle for collective bargaining for public workers continues across the state of Utah. On Friday, March 28, the Protect Utah Workers Coalition held a news conference to announce the number of signatures gathered to overturn HB267. Additionally, the coalition announced that two new unions – the Utah State Fraternal Order of Police and the Professional Firefighters of Utah – joined the fray.

Following a soft count of the first two weeks of the signature process, the coalition has gathered approximately 130,000 signatures. The process requires 140,748 signatures in total, leaving members two weeks to find the 10,000 signatures necessary to put the bill on the 2026 ballot. Signatures must be submitted by April 16.

With public support for this effort at an all-time high, the Utah State Fraternal Order of Police and the Professional Firefighters of Utah have agreed to join the effort. Jack Tidrow, the president of the PPFU, spoke at the conference, sharing,” We tried to not let it get to this point, but this is where we are at.” He added,” We need the public’s help to get across the finish line.”

“Please support this referendum to give the heroes of our communities a voice again,” said Kevin Murray, president of the Utah State Fraternal Order of Police.

 Salt Lake City firefighter Harrison Long shared,” Police should have a voice in police work, firefighters should have a voice in firefighting and teachers should have a voice in education. We deserve to share our perspectives and stories.”

HB267, or the Public Sector Labor Union Amendments, was passed in the 2025 general session of the Utah State Legislature. This bill prohibits public employers from engaging in collective bargaining with unions. Sponsored by Rep. Jordan Tuescher and Sen. Kirk Cullimore, it drew mass protests from public workers and union members at the State Capitol.

In an op-ed piece for the Wall Street Journal, Rep. Tuescher writes,”As I dived into it, learned more about how collective bargaining worked and how you have some districts that have 25% of members of the union that get to speak for 100% of everyone. They have this monopoly in collective bargaining, I thought, ‘this is wrong.'”

Other members of the Utah GOP have endorsed this bill. Sen. Todd Weiler posted on social media,” Be sure to sign this petition so the unions can force you to pay more taxes for government employees.”

In previous remarks, Weiler said the bill is retaliation against the Utah Education Association. When asked about his comments, Weiler replied,” Doesn’t mean it wasn’t good policy. Two things can be true …”

In the Castle Country, both Rep. Christine Watkins and Sen. David Hinkins opposed the bill. Hinkins had proposed an alternative bill to protect collective bargaining with SB168, which created a public labor relations board. This bill died with the passage of HB267.

Rep. Watkins said of the bill,” I will tell you, this bill really and truly is mainly focused at the UEA because of some lawsuits and things that they filed this last year. And so there’s a lot of people up here who do not have any love for UEA. Unfortunately, they’re dragging in all the other unions with them.”

More information on the referendum – along with signature-gathering events – can be found on protectutahworkers.com.