March 22, 2011. Day 14 of the 2011 Legislative Session, Union Gag Bill passes House committee, Budget Crisis Update, Update on other union busting bills
(Received March 21, 2011)
Union Gag bill passes House committee
If you were listening to House Appropriations Committee <http://www.myfloridahouse.com/Sections/Committees/committeesdetail.aspx?SessionId=66&CommitteeId=2584> meeting today you would have thought that Rep. Chris Dorworth (R-Heathrow) was the champion of empowering union members— certainly not a union buster! But as one Communications Worker of America member put it “How can you claim you’re empowering me when you’re trying to destroy my union?”
Drawing a line between the small hands-off government rhetoric espoused by legislative leaders and the bill’s intrusion on individual rights, FEA staff Kevin Watson told the committee, “That’s what you’re deciding on today — about whether or not you want to inject yourself into the individual, private decisions that employees make about their money.”
The committee voted 14 to 10 today to pass HB 1021 <http://www.myfloridahouse.com/Sections/Documents/loaddoc.aspx?FileName=_h1021c1.docx&DocumentType=Bill&BillNumber=1021&Session=2011> sponsored by Rep. Dorworth The bill would prohibit automatic payroll deductions from public employees’ paychecks for union dues and purposes of political activity. That means it would prohibit dues deductions through the traditional mechanisms established for educational employers. As you may recall, this is the House version of SB 830 <http://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2011/0830/BillText/c1/PDF> sponsored by Sen. John Thrasher(R-Jacksonville) of SB 6 fame.
Rep. Ed Hooper (R-Clearwater) offered an amendment which would have carved out law enforcement and firefighters – but quickly withdrew the amendment when Rep. Carlos Lopez-Cantera (R-Miami)— who is part of Republican leadership — weighed in against it. The amendment would have clearly caused the bill to be unconstitutional. In an astonishing display of hypocrisy Rep. Paige Kreegel, in support of the amendment, claimed the amendment was necessary because without it “police and firefighters would be disadvantaged by the bill.”
The highlight of the meeting came when Alachua School Board member Gunnar Paulson testified how his union collaborated with the school district administration to ensure that students were not harmed by budget cuts. Paulson admonished Rep. Dorworth for smirking during his testimony asking the sponsor “ why are you smiling? Hurting students is not funny.”
Minority Leader Ron Saunders (D-Tavernier) called that bill a “solution without a problem.” Democrats incredulously asked “we’re facing a budget deficit of nearly $ 4billion, what public good does this bill serve?” Rep. Franklin Sands (D-Plantation) summed it up, “this is a union busting bill.”
Two Republicans, Rep. Coley and Rep. Hooper voted against the bill along with all the Democrats on the committee.
What does the bill do?
* Strikes all statutory provisions authorizing dues and other types of deductions for “employee organizations.” Applies to state agencies, units of local government, and other public sector entities.
* Specifically, strikes the dues deduction authorization in section 447.303. Dues deductions have been authorized by this law since 1974.
* Prohibits deductions made for purposes of political activity.
* Requires “labor organizations” to provide pro rata refund to member for dues used to make political contributions or expenditures UNLESS member executes written authorization.
* Requires annual written authorization by member
* Requires labor organization’s accounting of all political contributions and expenditures for preceding 24 months
Budget crisis update
While we were listening to the ridiculous arguments about why the state should eliminate dues deductions, the Senate PreK-12 Appropriations sub-committee was hearing the grim news: the state is short $3.75 billion.
The initial budget allocations have been given and reality is going to hit hard. Here’s what we know so far:
* The House intends to balance the budget on the backs of school employees by using “pension reform” requiring teachers and state workers to contribute 5% of their salary to their retirement This is a 5% cut to their disposable income not matter how you slice it. The Senate would exempt those making less than $40,000 a year from a retirement contribution
* The House wants $150 million for tax cuts
* The Senate has nearly $2 billion more in their school spending allocation than the House.
* The House has about $700 million more than the Senate in health and human services allocation
There are weeks of budget negotiations ahead of us until the final numbers are hammered out. We’ll keep you posted as the process churns the numbers into policy impacting the lives of our members, our students and our communities.
Update on other union busting bills
So far the two other union busting bills have not gained any traction however we must stay vigilant and continue to talk to legislators and educate them on these bad bills:
* Decertification HB 1023 by Plakon — This bill will require recertification of a local union, as bargaining agent, that has a membership less than 50 percent of the potential bargaining unit membership by July 1, 2011 — or the certification of the bargaining unit will be revoked. The bill does not apply to law enforcement officers or firefighters. There is no Senate version at this time. HB 1023 has been referred to two House committees (Government Operations Subcommittee and State Affairs Committee) but has not been placed on an agenda at this time.
http://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2011/1023/BillText/Filed/PDF
* Union Decertification HB 1025 by Brodeur —the bill will allow the members of a union to decertify the union as bargaining agent at any time. It requires union leaders to notify members of this right each year. The bill has three committee references but has not been placed on committee agenda (Government Operations Subcommittee, Business and Consumer Affairs Subcommittee, and State Affairs Committee) An identical bill has been filed in the Senate by Sen. Hays: SB 1720 – the bill has two committee references: Commerce and Tourism and Budget.
http://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2011/1025/BillText/Filed/PDF
Disclaimer: it’s only Monday but typos are likely to appear in this report.
Questions? Call FEA Public Policy Advocacy at 850.224.2078