The latest success came this week, when Jacksonville city employees represented by AFSCME Local 1279 voted more than 98% in favor of recertification.<\/p>\n
\u201cDay by day, week by week, the members of AFSCME Local 1279 continue to build a stronger union, and it shows,\u201d AFSCME Florida Administrator James Spears Jr. said.<\/p>\n
\u201cA growing membership is helping to amplify the voice of working families across the region. And their commitment to the citizens they serve is an example of why public service matters. We are excited that this overwhelming victory will allow this great progress to continue.\u201d<\/p>\n The law in question (SB 256<\/a>), sponsored by then-Spring Hill Republican Sen. Blaise Ingoglia \u2014 whom DeSantis appointed<\/a> CFO last year \u2014 hiked membership requirements for most public-sector unions from 50% of a bargaining unit to 60%. It also blocked collective bargaining organizations from automatically deducting dues from members\u2019 paychecks.<\/p>\n By May 2025, more than 100 unions in Florida had been decertified, with roughly 69,000 Florida workers losing representation, according to an Orlando Weekly analysis<\/a>. Through this past March, there were 209 decertification votes in the state targeting teacher unions alone, though none came close to succeeding, CBS News<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n Arthur Finley, President of AFSCME Local 1279, described SB 256 as a \u201cmassively disruptive piece of legislation\u201d that gave unions little time to adjust to its changes and initially led to the organization\u2019s decertification<\/a> in February 2024.<\/p>\n In September, after re-registering hundreds of members, implementing a new dues payment system and holding dozens of meetings on the matter, Local 1279 ratified a new contract with Jacksonville by a 99% vote<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe lost our union at the start, but working with the council and other AFSCME locals in the area, we were able to get on track and win it back,\u201d Finley said. \u201cPlenty of members knew we had to keep fighting, and that gave us the resources to make this new contract happen.\u201d<\/p>\n The union\u2019s win this week capped a busy stretch of successes across the state in 2026. This month, local AFSCME chapters scored recertification triumphs in DeFuniak Springs<\/a>, Hialeah<\/a>, Miami Gardens<\/a>, Naples<\/a> and Polk County<\/a>. Preceding recertification wins took place this year in Hallandale Beach<\/a>, Miami<\/a>\u2013Dade<\/a> County<\/a>, Miami-Dade\u2019s Jackson Health System<\/a> and Orange County<\/a>.<\/p>\n In 2025, AFSCME saw<\/a> recertifications<\/a> in several of those localities and in Avon Park, Bay Harbor Islands, Dania Beach<\/a>, Daytona Beach<\/a>, Manatee County<\/a>, Martin County<\/a>, North Port<\/a>, Oakland Park, Opa-locka, Pinellas Park, Surfside, the University of Central Florida, Venice<\/a> and Willison.<\/p>\n Similarly successful votes<\/a> occurred in 2024.<\/p>\n The margins of those wins, which mostly exceeded 90% votes, are encouraging for AFSCME and other unions in the face of legislation going into effect next week designed to make it even harder<\/a> for public-sector employees to organize.<\/p>\n That measure (SB 1296<\/a>), sponsored by Fort Myers Republican Sen. Jonathan Martin, updates the law to require at least 50% of a public employees\u2019 bargaining unit to vote in certification, recertification and decertification elections. And if less than 60% of employees in a bargaining unit are dues-paying union members, the union must petition the state for recertification.<\/p>\n As was the case with SB 256, the strictures in SB 1296, effective July 1, don\u2019t apply to public safety employees like police and firefighters.<\/p>\n When he signed the measure last month, DeSantis touted its changes as targeting \u201cpartisan teacher unions\u201d whose work doesn\u2019t reflect general will of educators.<\/p>\n \u201cYou should not have these entities operating if they do not have support from the people they purport to serve,\u201d he said before signing the measure on May 1, International Workers\u2019 Day.<\/p>\n Education Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas, DeSantis\u2019 former Deputy Chief of Staff, said, \u201cPublic unions hate this democracy (and) bill because they want to force employees to join, coerce dues payments from them, and provide them with no real option for reconsideration.\u201d<\/p>\n The Florida Education Association<\/a>, which represents approximately 120,000 members across the state, offered a different interpretation.<\/p>\n \u201cInstead of making life more affordable for \u2026 public-sector workers who help make Florida safe and prosperous, the Governor and his activist administration are being clear that they do not care about the workers of this state,\u201d the organization said, adding that under DeSantis, Florida has ranked 50th in the nation<\/a> in average teacher pay for three straight years and 41st in per-student funding<\/a>.<\/p>\n Notably, DeSantis endorsed a slate<\/a> of Republican candidates for School Board in 2024 and backed more than 30 such candidates<\/a> in 2022. He also signed legislation approving a ballot question<\/a> to make School Board races partisan, which failed<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Florida AFL-CIO said that despite DeSantis\u2019 assertion about hyperpartisanship in labor organizing, more than 30% of Florida union members are Republicans, with close to another third being independent or non-party affiliated.<\/p>\n SB 256 used language devised by the Freedom Foundation<\/a>, a Washington free-market conservative think tank, which launched a multimillion-dollar campaign to decertify<\/a> United Teachers of Dade after GOP lawmakers pushed the measure to passage three years ago.<\/p>\n That effort failed, with 83% of the union\u2019s members voting to recertify<\/a> it and reject another entity called the Miami-Dade Education Coalition, which the Freedom Foundation supported financially.<\/p>\n SB 1296\u2019s language is similar to the \u201cUnion Recertification Act<\/a>\u201d proposal by the American Legislative Exchange Council<\/a>, whose members include conservative interest groups and GOP state lawmakers, including House Speaker Daniel Perez and Coral Gables Rep. Demi Busatta, the organization\u2019s current national Chair<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Seann-Frazier-Web-Ad-3-Florida-Politics-Updated.jpg\")
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<\/a>Gov. Ron DeSantis signs SB 1296 on May 1, 2026. Image via the Executive Office of the Governor.<\/p>\n