Multiple Florida teachers unions face elections after failed recertifications

Florida’s Voice | By Amber Jo Cooper | August 28, 2024

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Broward Teachers Union and United Teachers of Dade are facing elections conducted by the Public Employees Relations Commission after failing to qualify for recertification due to lack of support.

A spokesperson for Broward County Public Schools told Florida’s Voice the district is “working with the unions and PERC to get ready and eventually conduct the elections.”

A similar election is taking place in Miami-Dade County, between the United Teachers of Dade and a new startup union, the Miami-Dade Education Coalition. Ballots are reportedly due back by Sept. 24.

According to the law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in May 2023, which was passed by a majority of the legislature, unions must represent at least 60% of employees in order to automatically qualify for recertification. This is an increase over the previous 50% threshold.

The BCPS spokesperson told Florida’s Voice none of the six qualifying unions reached the 60% threshold, but noted they could petition the commission to conduct an election to regain certification.

In order to qualify for an election, the union needed 30% of its members to fill out an interest card, which they successfully achieved, according to the BCPS spokesperson.

Among those six unions are Broward Teachers Union (BTU), Education Professionals, Educations Support Professionals, Technical Support Professionals, Federation of Public Employees (FOPE), and FOPE 4 (Maintenance, Facilities Service, Transportation and Security).

The unions will be recertified if the majority (50% plus one vote) of voters cast their ballots in favor of recertification.

The spokesperson stated that there is currently no specific timeline for when the elections will take place.

Broward School Board Member Torey Alston told Florida’s Voice this process will “show exactly what teachers really want.”

“I think they want sound representation, and I think it’s questionable if that has been the case for the last several years – at the head of the Broward Teachers Union,” Alston said.

According to the commission’s website, elections are typically conducted within 30 days from the date the commission orders an election.

Southern Director for the Freedom Foundation Rusty Brown told Florida’s Voice the new law, SB 256, “inserted democracy into a system where it didn’t exist prior.”

The Freedom Foundation, a national organization specializing in labor reform, helped teachers in Miami-Dade form a replacement union this year, the Miami-Dade Education Coalition, which was then included on the ballot.

The Miami-Dade Education Coalition claims the UTD labor leaders “used our union dues to pay high salaries for themselves and lined the pockets of politicians instead of supporting the educators they are supposed to represent.”

Brown said union members should “take a real hard look at what the union’s actually done for you.”

“If you look at where they spend their money, it doesn’t lie. If you listen to rhetoric, if you listen to their speeches, they’re talking about politics. They’re not talking about advancing kids. They’re talking about the climate crisis, they’re talking about social justice issues,” Brown said.

Last year, DeSantis spoke out against school unions and said they have become “ultra-partisan” and have been “trying to impose left wing ideology.”

“Are you representing teachers to get better pay and benefits or are you trying to push a political agenda? Unfortunately, so much of it has been pushing a political agenda,” he explained.

The governor said the law provides “huge amounts of accountability.” The legislation also prohibits teacher’s unions from having dues directly deducted from paychecks.

He noted United Teachers of Dade fought “tooth and nail” to keep kids “locked out of schools” during COVID-19 and “worked hard to push a political agenda.”

Florida’s Voice asked Alston whether he agreed with DeSantis’ earlier statement that unions have been pushing a “political agenda,” particularly Broward county.

“100%,” Alston said. “The union leadership has been clearly pushing a very clear political agenda that I don’t believe reflects members and teachers across the district.”

A number of other districts have pending or scheduled elections for unions.

The Broward Teachers Union said they did not wish to comment on this story.