TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Unions representing teachers and other public sector workers – but not first responders – would be put under new rules for recertification in a bill passed by the Senate on Friday.
Opponents of the measure say it deliberately targets teachers unions and will hurt workers who fall under the new rules. But bill sponsor Sen. Jonathan Martin, R-Fort Myers, said he wants to require union leadership to be more responsive to their members.
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“This is not a bill to go after good unions that are fighting the fight for the people in their class,” Martin said. “This will make the bad unions that the class membership does not want to be a part of go away.”
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Florida teachers raise alarm over bill requiring unions to show support from 50% of employees to remain certified
The bill passed on a 25-14 vote, with five Republicans – Sens. Alexis Calatayud of Miami, Ileana Garcia of Miami, Ed Hooper of Clearwater, Ana Maria Rodriguez of Miami and Corey Simon of Tallahassee – joining Democrats voting against it. Independent Sen. Jason Pizzo of Sunny Isles Beach also voted against it.
It requires at least 50 percent of eligible members of a bargaining unit to participate in a vote, and for a majority of those voting to approve it for a union to be recertified.
Democrats argued it was part of a running effort to decimate teachers unions in Florida. Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando, pointed to a bill from 2023 that required unions to be recertified if they have fewer than 60 percent of eligible members paying dues.
That bill triggered a series of recertification votes for unions across the state.
“This is the next step in a campaign a yearslong campaign to eliminate public sector unions in Florida,” Smith said. The bill “is intended to be the kill shot to finish the job,” he added.
Under the bill, police, firefighters and emergency medical technicians are exempt from the new rules, which opponents said is unfair and unconstitutional.
But Martin said he was only trying to prevent unions from harming their members. He noted he filed the bill after the teachers union in his Lee County district filed suit over a plan to give higher pay to teachers who taught in failing schools.
“We saw an opportunity to help kids in a failing school or a D school get teachers who wanted to teach in that school,” Martin said.
The bill now heads to the House for a vote.