Utah Voters Stand With Workers Against Anti-Labor Law

In what may prove to be one of the most successful citizen-led referendum campaigns in the country, a 19-member labor coalition, including CWA, has delivered 320,000 signatures to the Utah legislature in opposition to an anti-labor law (H.B. 267) passed in February. The law effectively strips bargaining rights from public workers, including teachers and healthcare workers.

The coalition of labor activists needed roughly 141,000 signatures but, harnessing the deeply negative public sentiment H.B. 267 has garnered, averaged 11,000 signatures per day during the 30 days allotted for the campaign.

“House Bill 267 is wildly unpopular, and the public spoke out very loudly, but the legislature ignored us. The governor shrugged and signed it into law anyway. So you know what we did? We took it to the people, and the people, in just 30 days, showed up,” said CWA Local 7765 President and Registered Nurse Jessica Stauffer.

Final tallies will come in June, and if the signatures are validated, the public will be able to vote on whether or not to repeal H.B. 267 in November.

You can read more about this effort at ABC4.com.

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This post originally appeared on cwa-union.org.