After forcing a certification vote in the country’s largest state, Florida Republicans are looking to reach a blow at the teachers union in Dade County.
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The 24, 000 teachers in the county have finished voting under the state’s new union law, which gave teachers three options: should the teachers be represented by the United Teachers of Dade County ( UTD ) as they have been for 50 years, should they be represented by no union at all, or should a new group known as the Miami-Dade Education Coalition, which is closely aligned with the Freedom Foundation, represent them?
The value of the vote never been overstated. In order to maintain certification as the teacher’s bargaining agent, the union must get 60 % of faculty to back them. Anything less, and they will need to include their certification renewed annually.
” This law is designed to remove organisations by 1, 000 breaks”, said UTD President Karla Hernández-Mats.
Or, the law is intended to make sure the union represents the majority of staff. Think that.
A win for conservatives in Miami-Dade may change workers politics dramatically, with either a total repeal of UTD or the formation of a union for them. Teachers ‘ unions have long been a key component of the Democratic Party’s coalition, providing millions of dollars and volunteers to boost candidates on the ballot both nationally and in Florida.
The Florida legislation change, supported by the Freedom Foundation, a nonprofit organization that has long opposed organized work, is having a significant impact across the state. Since its passage, it has been reported that 54 organizations that represent more than 63 000 staff have been terminated.
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The proposed federation backed by Republicans, the Miami-Dade Education Coalition, promises to reduce taxes by 50 %, reduce the wages of the leadership, and prevent spending on outdoor agencies like the federal union.  ,
” The big issue here is the organizations are not focusing on the things that problem to us all”, said Brent Urbanik, chairman of the Miami-Dade Education Coalition. They are becoming entangled in their favorite political tasks.
Last week, hand-counting began for the unions that wanted to recertify them or help another federation to bargain for the teachers. But finally, Helena hit and the voting calculating was suspended. The Public Employees Relations Commission, the organization in charge of ballot counting, has not yet resumed, and there is no expression on when the vote counting may continue.
” As long as it’s up to the people, that is what we aim to acquire at”, said Rusty Brown, the Freedom Foundation’s chairman of specific projects that spearheaded the Miami union plan. We wanted to bring democracy where it had not earlier.
The work transformation effort has been spearheaded by Governor Ron DeSantis. He spoke about the impending certification vote in a speech from June.
In a statement made in June about the approaching union vote, DeSantis stated,” All I can say is that the old coalition in Miami-Dade fought tooth and nail to preserve kids locked out of school. ” They did not like children in person during COVID, and they’ve worked really hard to force a democratic agenda, which is not what we need in our schools”.
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The method employed by DeSantis is hardly likely to work in deep blue states like New York, California, and Illinois. Labor organizations, particularly the teacher’s organisations. are far too firmly rooted to quickly remove them.
But if sufficiently red claims slough off union power of our classrooms and the students, as well as teachers, thrive without them, their case may soften the grips of teacher’s unions sufficiently to allow for reforms.