Payback by DeSantis forces teacher unions to fight for survival | Editorial

Trashing labor unions, in particular teachers unions, has become a talking point for Gov. Ron DeSantis on the presidential campaign trail. He told California Gov. Gavin Newsom during their Fox News debate that Democrats are “owned, lock, stock and barrel, by the teachers union.”

How does that look on the ground, when laws DeSantis signed singling out some types of public-sector unions start to take effect?

The results may be upwards of 30,000 school employees being left without representation to bargain for better pay and working conditions.

The state’s largest teachers union, United Teachers of Dade in Miami, is close to decertification thanks to a new law that requires unions have at least 60% of union members pay dues, the Miami Herald reported. The law — Senate Bill 256 — was a union-busting one-two-punch that not only raised the threshold for certification from 50%, but also prohibited unions from deducting dues directly from members’ paychecks. UTD, which represents teachers in the state’s biggest school district in Miami-Dade County, has gained 800 new members, but still failed to meet the state’s stringent requirements. In November, the Herald reported, union membership was at 58.4%.

Re: Vengeful lawmakers want to kill unions | Steve Bousquet

‘Right to work’

The Republicans’ anti-union rants usually leave out the fact that Florida, unlike many blue states, is among 26 states with “right to work” laws. That means workers cannot be forced to join a union and pay dues as a condition of employment. In other words, teachers and school staff do not have to join United Teachers of Dade to benefit from the 7% to 10% pay raise the union has negotiated with the school district.

Long a bulwark of the Democratic party, teacher unions became a preferred target of DeSantis during his fight to reopen schools during the pandemic and to eliminate anything he deems “woke” indoctrination in schools. The governor has gone even further by demonizing teachers, who have been muzzled on what they can say about race, gender and sexual identity issues in the classroom.

Unions, like all organizations, have had very public shortcomings, such as protecting bad employees from accountability. But if we’re talking about unions that are too powerful, we cannot leave out police and firefighter unions, whose endorsements DeSantis and other Republicans gladly accept. As it turns out, SB 256 exempted those unions — along with those representing correctional officers — from that 60% threshold requirement.

Union pushback

In other words, the law punishes organizations that have directly clashed with DeSantis and the Republican-led Legislature. United Teachers of Dade was among the most vocal groups pushing back against the parental-rights law critics call “Don’t say gay,” laws that made it easier for organizations like Moms for Liberty to push schools to ban books, and DeSantis’ infamous “Stop Woke Act,” which bans instructions that some may interpret as making students feel guilty about being white. The local union president, Karla Hernandez-Mats, ran against DeSantis in 2022 as Democrat Charlie Crist’s running mate.

Meanwhile, groups like the Police Benevolent Association, the largest police union in the state, have been in lockstep with Republicans. The PBA has endorsed DeSantis for president, after supporting Donald Trump in 2020.

Masked as a measure to hold unions accountable, SB 256 was a version of the same kind of political payback Disney received when it opposed the “Don’t say gay” law.

United Teachers of Dade will not face decertification immediately. It must now prove to the state that it has support from at least 30% of its bargaining unit. After that, the union must hold a vote seeking recertification and show at least 50% support. Next, UTD must try again to meet the 60% threshold, which could put it in a potentially never-ending struggle to survive.

This is exactly the type of pain the new state law appears to seek to inflict. In Florida, opposition to the political party in power comes with a high cost.

This editorial was adapted from an editorial by the Miami Herald Editorial Board and distributed by Tribune News Service. The Sun Sentinel publishes editorials from other publications that reflect the views of the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board. The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Opinion Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Opinion Editor Dan Sweeney, opinion writer Martin Dyckman and Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson. Editorials are the opinion of the Board and written by one of its members or a designee. To contact us, email at letters@sun-sentinel.com.