Posts tagged Alachua County Education Association
Judge finds Florida’s anti-union law union unconstitutional and ‘unreasonable’
November 12, 2024 // U.S. District Court Judge Mark Walker ruled that public teacher union members in Pinellas and Hernando counties had been damaged by the Florida Public Employees Relations Commission after the passage of SB 256, which had a component banning payroll deductions for the purpose of paying dues. Hernando United School Workers and the Pinellas Classroom Teachers Association argued that prohibiting payroll deductions was unconstitutional, violated their right to be free from the state impairment of contracts. The state argued the law was necessary to promote transparency and “allow union members to decide how to pay their dues and understand how much they were paying.”
Florida: State officials sued by education unions over SB 256
May 22, 2023 // SB 256 outlaws requiring the state to deduct union dues, restricts the freedom of educators and other working people to join unions, forces local unions to undergo monitoring, and requires that an arbitrary 60% supermajority of eligible employees pay dues in order for a union to exist. “Dues will no longer be deducted from their paycheck along with Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and taxes,” Brown told the Florida Record. “Union dues don't belong on there anyway. The state should not be collecting money on behalf of private organizations anymore. Unions can just call their members and get their credit card information, their bank account and have it set up as a direct payment that way if they would like to.” Defendants include Donald J. Rubottom, chair of the Florida Public Employees Relations Commission, Jeff Aaron, commissioner of the Florida Public Employees Relations Commission, and Michael Sasso, commissioner of the Florida Public Employees Relations Commission.