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Florida Bill Gives Politicians Power to Disband Unions

April 27, 2023

Lawmakers in the Florida House have advanced a bill that would decertify teachers’ unions if they fall below a 60% membership rate within their workplaces.

The bill has already cleared the State Senate, and now it is headed to Governor Ron DeSantis, who is expected to sign it into law.

Progressive lawmakers and labor groups have criticized the legislation as a political move to weaken teachers’ unions and other labor organizations that typically support the Democratic Party. The bill would make it more difficult for unions representing government employees to collect dues. The law would also allow the state to decertify them and revoke union/employer agreements.

Lawmakers added a clause to the bill that would exempt labor organizations that typically support Republican candidates, such as police unions and Corrections Officers.

Similar legislation was introduced in the Florida Senate last month, overcoming objections from both Republicans and Democrats.

The legislation cuts off automatic paycheck deductions for union dues. Unions pay to negotiate and enforce collective bargaining agreements with the funding. While the law would still allow unions to set up new methods to collect dues, the workarounds would represent new funding obstacles for public sector unions that have fallen out of favor with Tallahassee politicians.

Most worryingly, the bill, titled S.B. 256, will give political elites in Florida the power to disband many unions unilaterally.

The law requires that 60% of workers in a given bargaining unit be dues-paying union members. If the union falls below that threshold, the state could move to force the union to recertify. Unions that cannot meet the 60% standard will be forced to re-organize their workplaces and potentially lose their collective bargaining agreements. Nullified agreements could give the state near-limitless power to slash teacher pay and other benefits that may be part of those agreements.

The bill would also force time-consuming and expensive yearly audits, which could cripple many sanitation workers’ unions with very few members.

Andrew Spar, President of the Florida Education Association, vowed that the new law would not silence union members. “Today the Florida House passed SB 256, a bill written by Gov DeSantis, which aims to silence workers in Florida,” he said in a post. “We speak out, so just like Disney and others, we are a target of the Gov. We will not be silenced.”

“If Gov. DeSantis thinks he will silence us, he’s dead wrong,” he continued.

Teachers in Florida are among the worst-paid in the United States. According to a recent study published by the National Education Association, the state ranks an abysmal 48th in the nation for teacher pay.

The state is losing teaching staff to neighboring states, such as Alabama, which ranks 33 in teacher pay. And, Georgia, which pays its teachers enough to earn a 21st place ranking.

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