House members approved and sent to the Senate a proposed constitutional amendment requiring employees wanting to form unions to use secret ballots.
Supporters say the measure protects a fundamental principle of democracy. Opponents call it an anti-union move to fend off efforts to make it easier to organize labor.
HJR8, sponsored by Rep. Carl Wimmer, R-Herriman, is a pre-emptive strike against the proposed federal Employee Free Choice Act, a labor-backed law unions say would level the playing field with management when trying to organize.
Wimmer argued the pending federal legislation will take away the ability for people to privately vote their consciences.
"We are going to protect secret ballots. They're under attack," he said.
Labor officials disagree.
"The debate didn't have anything to do with protecting the rights of the secret ballot, it was about employer intimidation, and we saw the very best of that at the Capitol today," said Jim Judd, president of the AFL-CIO of Utah.
He argues labor should have the right to organize through an employee card-signing drive to avoid having to go through a cumbersome and time-consuming election overseen by the National Labor Relations Board.
Several moderate Republicans appeared to agree with that, and some tried unsuccessfully to amend the bill to take away its focus on unions. But the bill received its needed two-thirds majority vote -- 53 to 22 -- in the House. If it passes with a similar margin in the Senate, it will go before voters in the 2010 election.
Behind the scenes lobbying on the measure was said to be intense. Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. sent out a press release earlier this week in support of the amendment and Attorney General Mark Shurtleff also has endorsed it.
While the federal legislation would have no impact on the conduct of local, state and federal elections, several legislators spoke about the importance of the secret ballot in those situations.
Opponents warned that the federal legislation would pre-empt the amendment.
"This is going to cost the taxpayers a lot of money [in litigation]," said Rep. Jay Seegmiller, D-Sandy.
But Royce Van Tassell, vice president of the Utah Taxpayers Association, hailed it as "a victory for the employees, for taxpayers and for all of Utah."
