Wilkins disagreed with Matthews “read on the law,” asserting that the Urban Mass Transportation Act preserves labor rights of the private companies an agency may buy - and since UTA’s predecessor companies were privately-owned, and their supervisory employees did not unionize, the legislation would not risk UTA’s federal grant funds. When the Taft-Hartley Act was passed, however, Utah did not update its own definition of such employees, Matthews said, and hasn’t done so since then.Īlmost 20 years after that act passed, the subsequent Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1964 froze state protections of transit employee labor rights, Matthews pointed out, arguing that since Utah had not excluded supervisors from its original definition of employees who are permitted to collectively bargain, those employees’ organizing rights remain protected by the act’s guidelines. Ashlee Matthews, D-West Jordan, said during a hearing that the lawmakers seemed to be referring to 1947′s Taft-Hartley Act, which updated federal statute to exclude supervisors from the federal definition of employees who are permitted to participate in bargaining units. 2 committee hearing, Utah attorney general’s office lawyer David Wilkins, also representing UTA, said that the bill would align Utah law with federal law, which he said does not allow for supervisors to unionize.Īlthough Wilkins did not cite a specific federal statute, Rep. While arguing for its passage during a Feb. “This is just a direct attack on the employees at UTA,” said Spencer Hogue, secretary treasurer for Teamsters Local 222. Explaining the motivation for the move, Merrell said groups of managerial employees could have a conflict of interest if they were able to collectively bargain since they have access to confidential information.īut Teamsters Local 222, which represents 42 UTA operations supervisors, argues that the bill defies a portion of the Federal Transit Act, which requires protections for transit employees if a transit agency receives federal funding.
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