SALT LAKE CITY — The Salt Lake Education Association is surveying its members to decide if it should go on strike in protest of a new law banning public employee labor unions from collective bargaining.
"There are members of our organization that have asked us to take a bigger job action or do some kind of job action," said Mike Harman, the president of SLEA.
Harman said the union's board is not supportive of a strike, but sent the survey out at the request of members to gauge feelings amongst the entire group.
"This is a statewide issue," he told FOX 13 News in an interview on Monday. "And if the Salt Lake Education Association is the only organization that walks out? It’s not going to be effective."
Meanwhile, other labor unions are exploring a referendum on House Bill 267, which bans collective bargaining among public employee unions. Governor Spencer Cox who expressed disappointment in the negotiations over the bill but signed it into law anyway.
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"Definitely there is the process of running a referendum to overturn the law," said Brad Asay of the American Federation of Teachers. "Which is a big lift — thanks to our legislature — that makes it more difficult to do referendums."
Under Utah law, referendum organizers must gather more than 140,000 signatures from across the state within 30 days of the legislature adjourning to force it onto the November ballot. It is something Harman said he thinks could happen.
"I think there’s enough support we could be successful in that," he said.
Senate leadership expressed some ambivalence about it when asked about it by FOX 13 News.
"In my personal opinion, referendums are part of the process," Senate President J. Stuart Adams, R-Layton, told FOX 13 News. "They’re different than initiatives and that’s part of the process. I look at that and that’s an opportunity for them."
Senate Minority Leader Luz Escamilla, D-Salt Lake City, said she was waiting for the unions to decide what to do.
"We’re hearing from the teachers and they’re frustrated and they need to look at all their possibilities," she said Monday.
As the unions deliberate whether to push a referendum, Asay said there is something they've already encouraged members to do.
"We’ve actually encouraged people, as promised by our legislators, they said 'This law would allow people to represent themselves,'" he said. "So we encourage people to go their HR and ask for a raise. Line up. Line up. Go to their city councils."
