Florida's Brazen Assault on Public Sector Workers Puts Unions in Survival Mode

[Omaha Steve]

https://inthesetimes.com/article/florida-target-public-sector-workers-anti-union-senate-bill-256-decertification-teachers-desantis

More than 50,000 Florida workers have lost their union membership in the advent of S.B. 256.

McKenna Schueler June 5, 2024



TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA — Early one February morning, Chris Pagel, a retired U.S. Army combat engineer and physical education teacher, begins his three-and-a-half hour drive from Nassau County to the Florida Capitol in Tallahassee. He’s opposing a bill designed to build on S.B. 256 — an anti-union law passed last year that has, so far, already caused more than 50,000 public employees to lose their union representation.

Later, standing in front of lawmakers, he questions why he bothered making the drive at all. ​“I’ve been here before,” he says during public testimony. ​“The Republicans have already made up their mind. Democrats fight it.”

More than a decade in the making, S.B. 256 essentially requires unions to have a lot of dues-paying members while simultaneously making it harder for them to do so. While the law bans public sector unions from deducting dues directly from members’ paychecks, it also requires at least 60% of a bargaining unit to pay dues or risk losing their union status.

Shortly after signing the bill, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis framed it in a statement as an effort to ​“reign in out-of-control unions” that he said take money away from teachers and misuse government funds for political aims. In the same announcement, he specifically mentioned teachers unions, many of which were already required to maintain at least 50% membership under a law approved by then Gov. Rick Scott in 2018.

FULL story at link above.

[Bo Zarts]

1. Time for SOS yet?

SOS = Suspension Of Service

Many pilots, including me, in the post-9/11 airline industry lost their hard-earned pensions because they didn’t have the guts to go out on a SOS. Sometimes an illegal general strike is the only way to go.

[NJCher]

2. the law is brutal

and what galls me is they exempted police and fire, who consistently get better pay raises than teachers and make substantially more. They had to pass a special bill to do so, also.

Despite Democratic opposition, the glitch bill passed the GOP-dominated legislature, with seven Republicans dissenting.