A bill banning collective bargaining for Utah’s public employees is now headed to Gov. Spencer Cox for his signature.

The Utah Senate passed HB267 Thursday. The bill bans collective bargaining, a process where an employer and a union negotiate wages, benefits and other aspects of worker compensation.

Public employees and union leaders left the Senate on Thursday in shock, and a few of them in tears, after the Senate voted to pass a labor bill that would ban public sector collective bargaining. HB267 passed through the Senate late Thursday by a vote of 16-13. The bill will now go to Gov. Spencer Cox’s desk.

Labor unions that serve teachers, firefighters, police and other public employees in Utah will no longer be able to negotiate on behalf of their workers under a bill that has received final legislativ