Previously stalled ‘union-busting’ bill advances in Florida Senate

(The Center Square) – The Florida House approved House Bill 1 last year after a heated three-hour debate over the bill, which was portrayed as a “union-busting” measure.

HB 1 required public employees – including teachers, firefighters and law enforcement officers – to reauthorize union memberships annually; unions to terminate memberships upon request; and it prohibited enrollment forms from asking a member’s political affiliation.

The bill never arrived on the Senate floor, dying in the chamber’s Governmental Oversight and Accountability Committee without a hearing.

Ray Rodrigues, R-Fort Myers, who was among the House Republicans who spearheaded HB 1, was elected to the Senate in November, and he was tabbed last month to chair the Senate Governmental Oversight and Accountability Committee, the same panel where HB 1 died in 2020.

The committee met for the first time in 2021 on Wednesday. Among the first bills to come before it was none other than HB 1 – in the form of Rodrigues’ Senate Bill 78.

SB 78 clarifies “the deduction of pay of public employees, and whether that deduction should occur before the employee has expressly authorized it,” Rodrigues told the panel. “The employee who earns the money should be the person and final arbiter who makes the decision on how those funds are spent.”

The bill advanced in a 4-2 vote. Its next hearing is before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is scheduled to convene several times before the legislative session begins March 2. A House companion has not emerged.

SB 78 would require government employers to confirm with workers they want union membership dues taken out of their pay before the deductions can start. This new stipulation would be in addition to the current requirement that unions submit written requests to the employee to begin deductions.

Under the proposal, the workers’ approval of deductions would continue until new collective bargaining agreements are reached or for three years, whichever is earlier.

SB 78 requires a public employee who wants join a collective bargaining unit to sign a membership authorization form that contains the following acknowledgement:

“I acknowledge and understand that Florida is a right to work state and union membership is not required as a condition of employment. I understand that union membership and payment of union dues and assessments is voluntary and that I may not be discriminated against in any manner if I refuse to join or financially support a union.”

The bill would require the membership authorization form to clearly state the union must revoke membership immediately if requested, in addition to the provision that requires a separate authorization for deductions.

SB 78 is certain to stir up the same battles in hotly debated committee hearings and floor debates between proponents and opponents that HB 1 did in 2020.

Among supporters who testified Wednesday were representatives from Associated Industries of Florida, the Florida Chamber of Commerce and Americans for Prosperity.

Representatives from Florida AFL-CIO, the Florida Education Association, United Faculty of Florida, Florida Professional Firefighters and the Florida Police Benevolent Association spoke in opposition.

“This bill is just another attempt at union-busting and is a solution in search of a problem when there is no problem,” said Sen. Victor Torres, D-Kissimmee, who joined Sen. Linda Stewart, D-Orlando, in voting against the measure.

More than 200,000 public workers in Florida are represented by the Florida Education Association (140,000), Florida Police Benevolent Association (36,000) and Florida Professional Firefighters (24,000), according to the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the nation’s largest public services employees union.

AFSCME’s Florida Council 79 coordinates with 66 locals representing hundreds of thousands working for cities, counties, utilities and the state in a wide range of occupations.

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