![\"United](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/MIA_SN2_0997.JPG\" "\\"United")
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United Teachers of Dade President Antonio White, center, joined on stage by United Teachers of Dade First Vice President Danielle Boyer, left, and United Teachers of Dade Treasurer Mindy Grimes-Festge, speaks about the collective bargaining for the contract as well as the referendum renewal during a town hall meeting at Miami Southridge Senior High School in Miami, Florida, on Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025.<\/p>\n
SAM NAVARRO<\/p>\n
Special for the Miami Herald<\/p>\n
Miami-Dade\u2019s teachers union says it will survive another year, even after falling just shy of a 50% recertification voter participation threshold<\/a> among eligible employees set by a recent law.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for United Teachers of Dade said Tuesday they were informed by officials with the Public Employees Relations Commission (PERC) that the threshold did not apply to this election because the process began before July 1, when the law took effect. The union shared a signed form from PERC stating that the union had \u201cprevailed\u201d in the election.<\/p>\n Ballots were mailed to all eligible employees in Miami-Dade County Public Schools May 27; completed ballots were mailed to Tallahassee and counted on a live stream by commission staff on Tuesday.<\/p>\n The vast majority of employees in the bargaining unit voted in favor of the union, but only 49.5% participated. Per PERC\u2019s count, about 96.7% of respondents supported the union \u2014 10,986 employees voted in favor of the union and 370 voted against. Two ballots were challenged.<\/p>\n With 22,964 eligible employees, United Teachers of Dade would have needed 11,482 employees to respond to the election to get to the 50% threshold. They were 124 votes short.<\/p>\n The PERC official counting the ballots congratulated United Teachers of Dade, but the state agency has yet to return requests for comment on the results from the Herald.<\/p>\n The new law, put into effect by the passage of Senate Bill 1296, was the latest effort from the Florida Legislature to place stringent restrictions on public sector employee unions, though most of the regulations exclude \u201cpublic safety\u201d employees like law enforcement officers, firefighters, correctional officers and paramedics.<\/p>\n Elections to recertify public sector unions like United Teachers of Dade are not new. In 2018, the legislature passed a law requiring them for unions who counted less than 50% of the bargaining unit as dues-paying members. Later, the Legislature raised that bar to 60% and banned unions from pulling dues directly from teachers\u2019 paychecks.<\/a><\/p>\n