Posts tagged Florida
Florida teachers union loses 20,000 members after government stops collecting dues
December 4, 2024 // In its annual Form LM-2 filed in November with the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL), the FEA disclosed having 111,133 employed, dues-paying members as of August 31, 2024, down from the 131,510 “active members” the union reported a year earlier. The precipitous decline far exceeds typical annual fluctuations in the union’s membership numbers and comes in the wake of Florida policymakers’ adoption of a package of government union reforms in 2023 championed by Gov. Ron DeSantis with the support of the Freedom Foundation and other conservative groups.
Marquette University uses religious exemption to squash unionizing efforts
November 30, 2024 // e-track employees from Marquette's Klingler College of Arts and Sciences. (Ericka Tucker) by Heidi Schlumpf View Author Profile hschlumpf@ncronline.org Follow on Twitter at @heidischlumpf Join the Conversation Send your thoughts to Letters to the Editor. Learn more November 25, 2024Share on FacebookShare on TwitterEmail to a friendPrint By day, students at Marquette University may have Daniel Collette as their philosophy professor, but at night, he could be their Uber driver or DoorDash delivery person. The divorced dad of two also has had to give blood to make enough money to make ends meet. Collette is a full-time faculty member at the Jesuit university in Milwaukee and he has a doctoral degree. But as a "non-tenure-track" employee, he makes about a third less than other faculty on the tenure track. The typical non-tenure-track salary at Marquette is about $43,000, according to faculty who spoke to NCR. (Marquette does not publish salary information.) "I am truly tired to the bone," Collette told NCR. "It affects me, my health, my kids — and my students as well. The fact of the matter is that I'm not able to give them the same attention I would if I could just do my one job." Collette has joined other non-tenure-track faculty from Marquette's Klingler College of Arts and Sciences who are seeking to unionize to address issues of salary, workload and other disparities between tenure-track and non-tenure-track employees. He says the union could be "life-changing" for him. But Marquette is using a religious exemption to refuse to recognize the union — a move the pro-union faculty and their supporters say goes against the school's own mission and Catholic identity. "Continuing our strong partnership with faculty and staff — without needing to engage the union as an outside third party that may not share our same values — is the best way to deliver our Catholic, Jesuit mission and serve our students," Monica MacKay, senior director of university communication, said in a statement provided to NCR. Catholic social teaching strongly supports the right of workers to unionize. Pope Francis has spoken out in support of unions, as have the U.S. bishops. "Catholic social teaching supports the right of workers to choose whether to organize, join a union, and bargain collectively, and to exercise these rights without reprisal," says the bishops' document "Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship." Marquette faculty and their supporters — including nearly 600 students and 75 tenured faculty who have signed petitions of support — question how the university's decision squares with its Catholic identity and mission. One sign at a Nov. 8 pro-union protest asserted: "Jesuit values = livable wages." Advertisement "They are essentially claiming a First Amendment right for a Catholic university to not follow its own mission," said Chris Gooding, an assistant teaching professor of theology and member of the union's steering committee. "That is not so much a right to religious freedom as it is a right to hypocrisy." In October, more than 65% of full-time, non-tenure-track faculty in the college of arts and sciences signed authorization cards expressing their desire to collectively bargain with the university through the United Campus Workers-Wisconsin union. On Oct. 25, university administration announced it would not sign an agreement to recognize the union. Religious colleges and universities don't have to accept elections overseen by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), thanks to a decision during President Donald Trump's first administration that broadened the definition of religious freedom. They can, however, voluntarily choose to recognize unions and negotiate with them. Since that NLRB decision in 2020, Boston College, Seattle University, and St. Leo University in Florida have claimed the religious exemption, while St. Louis University instead chose to recognize a union of graduate student workers. St. Louis, Fordham, Loyola University Chicago, Georgetown and Santa Clara universities also all collectively bargain with faculty unions, according to Marquette's union organizers.
Will Trump’s Labor Secretary Pick Be a Big Win for Public Sector Unions?
November 22, 2024 // Politico reported earlier this week that Chavez-DeRemer was "in the mix" to run the Labor Department, and she has the backing of some high-profile labor union leaders including Teamsters President Sean O'Brien. Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), tweeted approvingly of Chavez-DeRemer's consideration for the job on Thursday. The outpouring of support for Chavez-DeRemer from labor unions probably reflects her record as one of the most pro-union Republicans in Congress. She's one of three House Republicans to endorse the Protecting the Right to Organize Act (PRO Act), a grab bag of big labor agenda items that would extend some of California's awful independent contractor regulations nationwide, abolish so-called "right to work" laws in the 27 states that have passed them, and expand the powers of the National Labor Relations Board, among other things.
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.”
Myths vs. Facts: Public Workers’ Janus Rights
November 7, 2024 // ALEC’s model Public Employee Rights and Authorization Act can help states reach full compliance. Its comprehensive reforms reiterate workers rights by ensuring that workers are unambiguously informed of their rights, have ample windows to make membership decisions, and can make labor decisions on an annual basis.
Op-Ed Andrew Holman: Union political spending doesn’t represent all their members
October 30, 2024 // Most of Pennsylvania’s public sector unions’ certifications date back to the 1970s, meaning many of their employees have never had the opportunity to vote on their representation. Without accountability, public sector unions are free to divert resources from representation toward partisan politics with no regard for members. The rank-and-file deserves better from their unions.
Opinion: Unions should be about employees, not about politics
October 30, 2024 // In August, National Education Association President Becky Pringle told WHYY, Philadelphia’s NPR affiliate, that membership was “nearly evenly split between Democrats, Republicans, and independents.” Yet she drove her union — the country’s largest union, public or private — to endorse Harris. The Teamsters and IAFF demonstrate that the NEA and other unions can simply decline political endorsements that divide their members. After all, members don’t want a union focused on politics, but on core collective bargaining activities. Gallup polling reveals the top reasons employees join a labor union are “Better pay and benefits,” “Employee representation-Employee rights,” and “Job Security.”
Marco Island Police Union Votes “No Confidence” in Police Chief
October 15, 2024 // Marco Island’s police union expressed a vote of no confidence in Chief Tracy Frazzano during a meeting held on September 28. And Frazzano intends to address and correct their concerns, she said. “Events which led to these concerns include, but are not limited to, Chief Frazzano entering active crime scenes in workout attire, making poor operational decisions resulting in unnecessary risk to the wellbeing of our members and the community, and taking disproportionate disciplinary actions against our members,” wrote Marco Island Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 95 President Jonathon Gray in a letter to City Manager Michael McNees dated October 7.
Commentary: G-MEN: Governments Employ Record Number of People
October 13, 2024 // This September, the Congressional Research Service released an updated version of this report. It revealed the same thing: The seven congressional districts with the highest percentage of federal civilian workers in its workforce are all in the suburbs of Washington, D.C.—and all are represented by Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives. In Maryland’s District 5, according to this Congressional Research Service report, 18.18% of all workers work for the federal government. It is represented by Democratic Rep. Steny Hoyer, the former House majority leader. In Virginia’s District 8, 16.67% of all workers work for the federal government. It is represented by Democratic Rep. Don Beyer. In Maryland’s District 8, 14.48% of workers work for the federal government. It is represented by Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin. In Virginia’s District 7, 13.59% of workers work for the federal government. It is represented by Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger.
The Union Members Who Never Voted for Their Union
September 10, 2024 // Reform federal labor law to require a secret-ballot election for unionization, as the Employee Rights Act would do. A 2022 survey showed that 70 percent of Americans — and 76 percent of union households — support this concept. At present, unions can succeed without support from a majority of its workforce when only a tiny portion of eligible employees vote in the election. For example, the NLRB is considering certifying an election in California in which just three employees out of 24 voted to unionize. A fourth voted against the union, and the rest did not vote. Federal labor law should require a quorum — such as two-thirds of all eligible voters — in order for an election result to be upheld. Such a requirement is popular: Eighty-four percent of Americans support this idea.