Posts tagged Florida
Push in states for $20 minimum wage as inflation persists
March 30, 2023 // Cindy Lee, the owner of a bowling alley in Endicott, New York, said she’s struggling to pay off loans taken out during the pandemic that kept her business afloat. “All this cost all at once is just going to kill us. I definitely will have to cut corners somewhere with employees if wages are raised,” said Lee, adding that she’d also have to increase prices on bowling, food and liquor. The federal minimum wage in the United States has stayed at $7.25 per hour since 2009, but states and some localities are free to set higher amounts. Thirty states have chosen to do so.
ARKANSAS BILL WOULD END GOVERNMENT COLLECTION OF UNION DUES FROM TEACHERS’ PAYCHECKS
March 28, 2023 // Just weeks after passing the largest education reform in state history, Arkansas lawmakers are now considering a bill that would better protect both taxpayers and teachers in the Natural state by preventing government employers from deducting union dues or political contributions from public school employees’ paychecks. “Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders has taken major steps to make good on her promise to be the education governor that others should aspire to,” said Rusty Brown, southern director for the Freedom Foundation. “The governor has already signed into law the largest teacher salary increase in state history, moving Arkansas from having some of the lowest teacher salaries in the country to among the five highest in the nation. I defy any teachers’ union to show where they’ve done the same.”
Southern States Moving Bills to Reinforce Janus Ruling
March 23, 2023 // Moreover, while the Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Oklahoma proposals all include provisions not specifically mentioned in the Janus ruling as written by Justice Samuel Alito and affirmed by four of his colleagues, each is entirely consistent with its unambiguous intent. The ruling clearly states, “Neither an agency fee nor any other payment to the union may be deducted from a nonmember’s wages, nor may any other attempt be made to collect such a payment, unless the employee affirmatively consents to pay.”
FEA: Where Do Your Union Dues Go? A LOOK AT Florida Education Association SPENDING 2019 – 2021
March 20, 2023 // Spending on political activities and lobbying remained relatively steady over the past three years. In 2021, the union spent $5.3 million on political activities and lobbying. About $800,000 of this went to employees and officers as compensation for their political activity and lobbying efforts. Other expenditures went to public affairs advertising ($2.7 million), the union’s “Fund Our Future” project ($672,715), and to outside firms for lobbying ($119,993) including $50,000 to Florida Pastors for Children for state legislative issue advocacy. The union also gave $567,000 to the FEA Advocacy Fund, the FEA’s political arm.
Institute for the American Worker Head Vinnie Vernuccio: Tennessee Is Leading the Way with Right-to-Work 2.0
March 15, 2023 // You made it a constitutional right, so it can’t be repealed like Michigan. Now you’re going even further, you’re doing right to work 2.0 by making sure employees of companies that get economic incentives, the secret ballot for them in unionization elections is protected. And your governor is also out there, Governor Lee is protecting teachers’ paychecks, not only giving them raises, but also making sure they get their full paycheck. And part of it isn’t siphoned off and given to teachers’ unions.
Florida Republicans introduce bills prohibiting paycheck deductions for public-sector union dues
March 14, 2023 // Vincent Vernuccio, a representative for the Mackinac Center’s Workers for Opportunity initiative, said, “[SB 256] is about transparency, accountability, good bookkeeping, and democracy. … This bill is about the rights of public employees: making sure they’re informed and they can exercise them.” Freedom Foundation representative Rusty Brown said, “There’s nothing in this bill that curtails organizing or collective bargaining for wages, benefits, or working conditions, which is what a union should be doing. And when you have a union whose membership is half [the people they represent] … then that could be indicative of a problem. … [This bill] gives the employees represented by the union the opportunity to vote … if they would like to continue allowing that union to represent them.”
Opinion: Florida Bill Would Make Government Unions More Transparent, Accountable
March 9, 2023 // The “Paycheck Protection Bill” includes language that would, among other things: prevent the state from deducting dues on behalf of unions from public employees’ paychecks, forcing unions to do their own billing and collections; require audits of unions representing public employees; require union membership cards to include wording echoing the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2018 ruling in Janus v. AFSCME, which recognized the right of public employees to decline union membership, dues, and fees with no loss of representation or benefits; and, perhaps most significantly, the bill establishes a new threshold and closes some unintended loopholes in a 2018 law that forces certification elections in situations where more than half of the bargaining unit has refused to support the union. These elections allow all employees who are represented by the union an opportunity to vote on whether the union will be allowed to continue representing them.
CA Farmworkers’ Right to Unionize by Mail May Change
March 8, 2023 // If a majority voted to unionize, the employer had to recognize the union. Labor advocates say this process poses significant barriers for farmworker unionization, as many workers fear employer retaliation. More than half of California’s farmworkers are undocumented. Also a 2021 Supreme Court decision put limits on union organizers’ access to growers’ property. Farmworkers are not covered by the union protections afforded most other workers under the National Labor Relations Act. California’s agricultural workers didn’t gain the right to unionize until 1975, when Gov. Jerry Brown signed the Agricultural Labor Relations Act, after years of United Farm Workers activism to improve work conditions.
Which States Are Best for Remote Workers?
March 2, 2023 // Remote work has proliferated as a work arrangement since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020. While its popularity has declined since its Spring 2020 peak, remote work remains far more common today than it was before the pandemic (see Figure 1). Research from Nicholas Bloom and others found that last month, nearly 13 percent of workers were fully remote, and an additional 28 percent worked in a hybrid arrangement.
Disney Worker Hits UNITE HERE Union Bosses with Federal Charge for Illegal Dues Seizures
February 27, 2023 // Labor Board charge: Union violated federal law by ignoring worker’s request to stop dues payments without any explanation Jose Alejandro Class Robles, a Disney Parks and Resorts employee in Orlando, Florida has filed federal charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against UNITE HERE Local 362 for illegally deducting dues from his paycheck. The unfair labor practice charges were filed with the NLRB Region 12 office with free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. Since 1943, Florida’s Right to Work protections make union membership and financial support strictly voluntary. However, rather than respect workers’ ability to decide individually whether or not to voluntary financially support the union, UNITE HERE union officials are blocking Class from exercising his rights under the law and stonewalling his request for required information regarding the dues deductions.