SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah has repealed a collective bargaining ban passed earlier this year that prevented labor unions serving teachers, firefighters, police and other public employees from negotiating on behalf of their workers.
Republican Gov. Spencer Cox on Thursday approved the repeal of a policy that experts had called one of the most restrictive labor laws in the country.
The state's Republican-controlled Legislature originally approved the policy in February, saying it was needed to allow employers to engage directly with all employees, instead of communicating through a union representative. Thousands of union members from the public and private sector rallied outside Cox's office for a week, urging him to veto the bill, which he decided to sign.
Pushback continued in the months after it became law, with the Legislature ultimately deciding on a reversal during a special session this month.
Republican state Rep. Jordan Teuscher, the original House sponsor, said the repeal “allows us to step back, to lower the temperature and to create space for a clearer and more constructive conversation.”
He maintained that it was a “good policy" that has been “overshadowed by misinformation and unnecessary division.”
The decision comes as Utah Republicans are preparing to defend their four U.S. House seats in the 2026 midterm elections under a new congressional map that creates a heavily Democratic-leaning district in the Salt Lake City area.
A repeal helps Republicans appease the many police officers and firefighters — groups that often lean conservative — who were frustrated by the ban.
State employees were still allowed to join unions under the law, but the unions could not formally negotiate on their behalf for better wages and working conditions.
Many public educators, the state’s most frequent users of collective bargaining, viewed the policy as way for Republicans to weaken teachers unions and clear a path for their own education agenda.
Teachers unions have been outspoken opponents of Republican policies in Utah and other states where lawmakers have sought to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs, expand school choice vouchers and restrict transgender bathroom use and sports participation in schools.
Union leaders celebrated the repeal and the work of their members who rallied opposition to the law.
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, and Brad Asay, the Utah chapter leader, called the repeal “a historic step in the right direction to return respect and dignity to the workers of Utah.”
FILE - Salt Lake Education Association Vice President Chelsie Acosta cheers with other educators and union members in opposition to HB 267: Public Sector Labor Union Amendments, at the Capitol in Salt Lake City, Utah, Jan. 31, 2025. (Laura Seitz/ Deseret News via AP File)
LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — A Bolivian court on Friday ordered the country's former President Luis Arce to remain detained for five months while he awaits trial on corruption charges, the latest development in a case that threatens to exacerbate Bolivia's political tensions.
Arce, 62, a leader from Bolivia’s Movement Toward Socialism party, was elected in 2020 and left office a month ago following the election of Bolivia's first right-wing leader in nearly two decades. He strongly denies the charges of breach of duty and financial misconduct. He faces up to six years in prison if convicted.
Two days after Arce's sudden arrest on the streets of Bolivia's capital of La Paz, a judge ordered his detention in a virtual hearing Friday.
Arce was transferred to one of Bolivia's largest prisons in La Paz at night. No trial date was announced.
The accusations concern the alleged diversion of millions of dollars from a state fund into private accounts and date back to when Arce served as economy minister under former President Evo Morales from 2006 until 2017.
Although the scandal first broke in 2017, investigations into the alleged graft stalled during Morales' presidency as Bolivia's courts proved submissive to the political power of the day. The case was reopened when conservative President Rodrigo Paztook office last month, ending almost two decades of dominance by the Movement Toward Socialism, or MAS, party.
Paz campaigned on a promise to clean up the government and seek justice for corruption as he rode to power on a wave of outrage over Bolivia's worst economic crisis in four decades.
Arce criticized the charges as political persecution.
“I’m a scapegoat,” he told the judge, insisting that he had no personal involvement in the government fund under scrutiny, which supported the Indigenous people and peasant farmers who formed the backbone of MAS support.
“The accusations are politically motivated.”
Officials involved in the previous iteration of the investigation say Arce is accused of siphoning off money from rural development projects to secure loyalty from MAS-allied union and Indigenous leaders during election campaigns.
Morales was elected to three consecutive terms, but was ousted in 2019 when his reelection to an unprecedented fourth term sparked accusations of fraud and mass protests.
Arce's lawyers asked the judge to grant his release pending trial, citing the ex-president's battle with kidney cancer several years ago.
But Judge Elmer Laura denied the appeal, and even exceeded the prosecution’s request of three months in a juvenile detention center by ordering five months in a state prison.
“These are crimes that directly affect state assets and resources that were allocated to vulnerable sectors," Laura said.
Isabel DeBre in Santiago, Chile, contributed to this report.
Police officers escort former President Luis Arce to San Pedro Prison after his arrest as part of a corruption investigation in La Paz, Bolivia, Friday, Dec. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
Police officers escort former President Luis Arce to San Pedro Prison after his arrest as part of a corruption investigation in La Paz, Bolivia, Friday, Dec. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
Former President Luis Arce comments to the press as he is escorted to San Pedro Prison after his arrest as part of a corruption investigation in La Paz, Bolivia, Friday, Dec. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
Police officers escort former President Luis Arce to San Pedro Prison after his arrest as part of a corruption investigation in La Paz, Bolivia, Friday, Dec. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
