TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The teachers unions of Florida are set to return to court on Thursday to contest the legality of new regulations affecting specific labor unions in a federal lawsuit.
A trial is expected to commence at a federal courthouse in Tallahassee, initiated by the Florida Education Association alongside several county-level labor organizations against the state body overseeing unions.
This legal action arises from a law enacted by Governor Ron DeSantis in 2023, which imposes stricter requirements on public sector employees regarding union dues, complicating the process for these employees to maintain their unions.
The legislation, identified as SB 256, places significant pressure on unions that represent tens of thousands of educators, compelling them to comply with the new criteria or risk losing their collective bargaining abilities.
This situation unfolds despite the fact that Florida’s constitution guarantees workers the right to organize.
The law mandates that certain unions must go through a recertification process if the number of members paying dues drops below 60% of those eligible. Furthermore, it prohibits unions from automatically deducting dues from members’ salaries.
During the signing of this bill, Governor DeSantis stated, “If you want to join, you can, but you write a check and you hand it over. That is gonna lead to more take-home pay for teachers.”
It’s important to note that this law exempts unions representing law enforcement personnel, correctional officers, and firefighters. Union leaders from the education sector contend that this legislative effort aims to penalize the governor’s adversaries within the labor movement while simultaneously offering a loophole that reinforces the influence of first responders, who have historically supported him politically.
“There’s no logical reason behind the Act’s widespread differentiation between preferred and non-preferred unions,” the unions’ attorneys argued in their court documentation. “However, the political agenda is clear.”
Teachers’ unions have vocally opposed DeSantis’ handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, asserting that he pressured educators to return to in-person classes under unsafe conditions, as well as attacking school boards that attempted to mandate mask usage during rising case numbers.
Union members have persistently criticized the conservative policies of the Republican governor. During DeSantis’ reelection campaign in 2022, his opposing candidate for lieutenant governor was Karla Hernández-Mats, who is also the president of United Teachers of Dade, representing educators in Miami-Dade County, the largest school district in Florida.
In their legal briefs, the attorneys for these labor groups contend that the new law violates the unions’ constitutional rights to free speech and equal protection, while “imposing no equivalent burden on favored unions.”
