Politics

More than 63,000 Florida workers have lost union representation due to new law

WLRN Public Media | By Daniel Rivero

Published September 2, 2024 at 5:00 AM EDT

University professors, custodians, municipal employees and school district administrative employees across the state have lost union representation and the ability to collectively bargain since Florida's Senate Bill 256 went into effect last year. A total of 54 public sector unions have been legally terminated.

More than 63,000 public employees across Florida have had their labor unions fully decertified and shuttered by the state since a sweeping anti-union law went into effect last year, WLRN has found.

A total of 54 public sector unions have been legally terminated explicitly because they do not meet requirements of the new law, according to state filings.

The staggering blow to labor in Florida has quietly impacted workers’ ability to collectively bargain in every corner of the state. Everyone from municipal employees of the small city of Defuniak Springs in the Florida Panhandle to custodial staff and adjunct professors at large state universities and Orlando airport workers have lost their union representation.

Senate Bill 256, passed in 2023, required public labor unions in Florida to have at least 60% of members paying dues in order for a union to be recognized by state law. The new threshold — there previously was no threshold for the vast majority of public sector unions — was coupled with a ban on government employers being able to deduct union dues from workers’ paychecks.

It meant that it became harder to pay dues, while simultaneously requiring more workers to pay dues to keep their labor unions alive.

As labor leaders and activists warned, that double-whammy law has immediately led to a sharp decrease in union membership in Florida.

Notably, the right to join a union is enshrined in the Florida Constitution. It is one of the very few states to do so. That’s part of why several labor groups are currently fighting the law in court.

In 2023, an estimated 6.1% of the Florida workforce was represented by unions, about 578,000 workers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The immediate dropoff due to the state law is poised to shrink that number by about half a percentage point in one fell swoop.

Dozens of unions are in the process of fighting to stay certified after failing to meet the 60% threshold, and the percentage of workers represented by unions will likely further shrink in the coming months and years.

This Monday, union leaders in South Florida plan to mark the Labor Day holiday with a press conference in Miami Springs to call attention to the ongoing battles of unions, and urge voters In November to support candidates who back the rights of workers. Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava is scheduled to join them.

“This Labor Day, we must stand united and elect pro-labor leaders who will fight for fair wages, affordable housing, and the rights of all workers to organize without fear of retaliation,” South Florida AFL-CIO President Jeffery Mitchell said in a statement announcing the plans.

Members of the 199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, the state’s largest union of healthcare workers, rallied on May 11, 2023.

“All of these public sector servants — one of the draws to bring them into these jobs is because they have this security of a collective bargaining agreement,” Rich Templin, the director of politics and public policy for the AFL-CIO Florida, warned WLRN earlier this year. “When that’s gone, they’re gone. And when they’re gone, it’s not going to take long for average Floridians to feel it.”

Some groups — like municipal employees of Bay Harbor Islands and Avon Park, along with non-instructional public school staff in Polk County — have successfully held votes to recertify their labor unions and protect their contracts, despite being threatened with decertification under the new law.

Unions for police and firefighters were exempted from the new labor law, allowing police officers in places like the small town of Bellaire to remain certified, even though a mere 35% of officers pay union dues, according to state filings. Some unions that represent transit workers have found ways to be exempted by the state law, due to a separate federal law that protects transit workers’ right to collectively bargain.

In general terms, private sector unions are regulated by the federal government. Public sector unions at the state, county and municipal level are regulated by states.

State government, higher education staff most affected

The largest losses of union representation in Florida due to SB 256 come from those employed by the state government – more than 43,000 state employees have lost their unions.

The second largest loss of union representation comes from university and college professors, specifically unions that represent adjunct and part-time faculty. Municipal employees from cities large and small follow.

WLRN is using public records to maintain a database that shows the full extent of the fallout of the law. You can access that database here.

Duplicate entries represent separate bargaining units from the same employer that have been decertified. Accompanying each is a link to the official state record showing the union has been fully decertified.

Below is a list of public employee bargaining units that have been decertified and disbanded by the state for not meeting the requirements of the law, along with the amount of employees who have lost their labor unions.

STATE GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES