For more than a century, Miami-Dade\u2019s public servants \u2014 from teachers to transit operators \u2014 have shaped the county\u2019s labor landscape through collective bargaining. Unions have long been the primary vehicle for negotiating wages and working conditions. Now, local labor leaders say that foundation faces an existential threat.<\/p>\n
Florida Senate Bill 1296,<\/a> passed on March 11 and awaiting Gov. Ron DeSantis\u2019 signature, imposes stricter recertification requirements for public sector unions to remain certified. The measure requires at least 50% of all employees in a bargaining unit to participate in an election. The union must then win 50% plus one of that total, rather than a majority of those who vote, as is currently the case.<\/p>\n Supporters say the change ensures accountability.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have example after example where a bargaining unit represents hundreds or thousands of employees and only a handful show up and vote,\u201d said Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka, R-Fort Myers, who sponsored the bill in the House. \u201cThat is a problem, and that is the problem that we are now seeking to solve with this legislation.\u201d<\/p>\n Critics, however, view it as the latest step in a years-long effort to dismantle organized labor in Florida.<\/p>\n A targeted blow<\/p>\n Jeffery Mitchell, president of theSouth Florida AFL-CIO<\/a>, which represents more than 250,000 workers, describes the bill as an unnecessary extension of state interference. He estimates that 30,000 county and hospital employees in Miami-Dade \u2014 not accounting for an additional tens of thousands of teachers \u2014 could be affected.<\/p>\n \u201cThis legislation is an extension of what the Florida Legislature does: create legislation for things that don\u2019t need legislation,\u201d Mitchell said.<\/p>\n The bill has also sparked accusations of political favoritism. It exempts unions representing police, firefighters and corrections officers, who tend to vote Republican, while tightening rules for teachers, nurses and transit workers.<\/p>\n “The Republicans seem to think that nobody else needs a union but police and fire,” Mitchell said. “I mean, we bargain, they bargain. There\u2019s no difference.”<\/p>\n SB 1296 follows 2023\u2019s SB 256<\/a>, which banned automatic dues deductions and raised membership thresholds to 60%. That law led to the dissolution of over 100 bargaining units representing 63,000 employees statewide.<\/p>\n Following SB 256, the Freedom Foundation launched a multi-million-dollar campaign to decertify United Teachers of Dade (UTD).<\/a> While that effort failed, with 83% of voters choosing to keep the union, the new rules under SB 1296 make such victories harder to repeat.<\/p>\n Teachers warn of classroom consequences<\/p>\n Among the largest unions potentially affected is UTD,<\/a> which represents over 25,000 educators and school staff in Miami-Dade County Public Schools.<\/p>\n President Antonio \u201cTony\u201d White described SB 1296 as “an additional pylon” to the “original union-busting” 2023 bill.<\/p>\n \u201cThis particular bill, if you don\u2019t respond to it properly, could very adversely affect what we do here in Miami-Dade County,\u201d White said. \u201cI think the legislators often forget that working conditions are a direct reflection of our children\u2019s learning conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n UTD has been around since 1974, originating in the 1930s-era Dade County Classroom Teachers\u2019 Association and eventually merging to form a unified, desegregated bargaining unit. It organized the 1968 statewide strike, secured an $8,000 salary increase via a 2018 property tax, and recently secured high-margin recertification.<\/p>\n White argues the new legislation subverts the democratic process by counting non-voters as “no” votes.<\/p>\n \u201cThat is a clear example of them trying to rewrite democracy,\u201d he said. \u201cIn a democratic society, those who participate in the process are the ones who generally determine the outcome. They have simply turned that upside down.\u201d<\/p>\n Under the new math, White illustrated an example: If UTD has 22,000 members, 11,001 must cast ballots for the election to be valid.<\/p>\n “That\u2019s a double standard that\u2019s not met anywhere in this country,” White said. There\u2019s no governor\u2019s race, no state race, no leg race anywhere that follows that criteria.\u201d<\/p>\n The stakes extend beyond the ballot box. Without collective bargaining, educators lose protections for wages and classroom support. White warned this could trigger an exodus of professionals from one of the country’s most expensive regions.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we\u2019ve worked for over the last 50-some odd years would all be for naught,\u201d he said. \u201cYou cannot keep licensed professionals in a classroom if you strip them of all their rights.\u201d<\/p>\n Turning highly degreed professionals into at-will workers, he argued, treats a career like a service job.<\/p>\n \u201cThey simply won\u2019t stand for it, so they\u2019ll simply begin to flee the system,\u201d White said.<\/p>\n Transit workers<\/p>\n