Posts tagged Ron DeSantis
Biden’s labor proxy war against DeSantis
November 22, 2023 // Su is abusing her discretionary power under the Federal Transit Act. Yet if her actions are allowed to stand, labor unions may come to regret it. Future administrations may interpret the “fair and equitable” provision to require that states enact policies like Florida’s. States such as California, New York, and Illinois may suddenly find themselves out billions of dollars unless they stop giving unions unfair advantages and start protecting public-sector workers’ rights. Those states would surely argue that the Federal Transit Act doesn’t grant the secretary of labor such sweeping authority, but if that’s true, then the Biden administration’s assault on Florida is equally wrong.
Miami-Dade teachers’ union faces potential decertification
November 17, 2023 // As of last week, only 58.4% of United Teachers of Dade members were paying dues to the union, short of the 60% required by most public sector unions under a new state law. On Friday, the union was set to send a snapshot of membership to the Public Employee Relations Commission, or PERC, the state agency that regulates public employee unions.
A Tale of Two Teachers’ Unions
November 17, 2023 // Efforts to decertify the teachers’ union in Miami are possible because conservatives won elections and passed a good law that limits public-sector unions’ power. States with conservative governments should follow Florida’s lead and pass similar laws. States with progressive governments will continue to struggle under the burden of unrepresentative teachers’ unions.
Op-Ed: Will Miami Teachers Free Themselves from Union Shackles?
November 8, 2023 // UTD claims that its current membership stands at 57 percent of the Miami-Dade educator workforce, up from 52 percent this summer. However, this increase in membership — assuming there really is one — doesn’t indicate the union has successfully recruited new members or won recommitments from old ones. Instead, UTD has been expelling substitute teachers from the bargaining unit in an attempt to swing the percentages back in its favor. The union’s membership numbers have been trending in the opposite direction for years, which presented an opportunity for the Freedom Foundation. But any disenchantment the teachers have with the union is its own fault. If UTD ultimately dies, its wounds will be self-inflicted.
Despite arrest, corruption charge, Miami police union still all in on Diaz de la Portilla
October 19, 2023 // A month after Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla was arrested on charges of trading a vote for hundreds of thousands of dollars in political donations and gifts, it hasn’t cost him the support of Miami’s men and women in blue. In June, Miami’s Fraternal Order of Police announced it was putting its considerable political heft behind Diaz de la Portilla, a former state representative who was once chosen politician of the year by the union. And Monday — a month after Diaz de la Portilla’s Sept. 14 arrest — the union’s president made it clear that as far as he was concerned, nothing had changed. “There are two kinds of people that are always presumed guilty before innocent, cops and politicians,” said FOP President Felix Del Rosario.
Workers for Opportunity Applauds Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody
October 7, 2023 // The Biden Administration is weaponizing a 60-year-old provision in the Federal Transit Act, which permits the Secretary of Labor to interpret whether laws impacting what transit employee unions can collectively bargaining over – such as automatic dues deductions by public employers – are “fair and equitable.” We applaud Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody's actions to defend her state and transit employees. By filing suit against the Department of Labor, she demonstrates the seriousness with which Florida treats employee rights and worker freedoms. We are likewise proud to have been on the ground floor of educating lawmakers on the merits of the reforms as they advanced and passed into law.
This Labor Day, ask yourself: Are unions living up to their promises?
September 4, 2023 // Good people across the country may believe that handing more power to public sector union executives will fix teacher shortages or improve ineffective government programs. Instead, these good people should reflect this Labor Day and ask themselves whether public sector unions have lived up to these promises over the past 50 years. They should also ask how we can hold union executives accountable and improve how public sector unions work. Unfortunately, anyone trying to advance ideas to improve public sector unions soon discovers union executives aren’t interested. Public sector union executives will go to war to ensure they keep their power — even at the expense of the employees they purportedly represent.
Commentary: Nation’s Largest Teachers Union Doubles Down on Its Progressive Agenda
August 21, 2023 // Pringle turned her attention to Florida. "We have come here to Florida—our nation's ground zero for shameful, racist, homophobic, misogynistic, xenophobic rhetoric and dangerous actions," Pringle said. "We stand ready to lift up and protect our colleagues and their students. Right here in Florida, we will preserve and strengthen a democracy that was steeped in the power of 'We the People'!" Didn't Pringle know that the people of Florida had an election in 2020 and reelected Governor Ron DeSantis by a 20-point margin? And with 56 percent of Hispanic voters turning out for the Republican candidate? Pringle didn't get that memo, but it didn't stop her. "In this moment when voting rights hang in the balance and reproductive rights remain at risk, we are required to fight for fair and free elections and a woman's right to control her own body," she said. "NEA, this is that moment. With the residue of the pandemic lingering and with our psyches still fragile, we must try to make sense of all we have lost and all that we have learned."
America’s Largest Teachers Union Isn’t Beyond Reform
July 20, 2023 // Washington can make the NEA less political and more accountable by revising its federal charter.
Florida unions scramble to avoid recertification
July 17, 2023 // “Florida’s recertification requirement doesn’t automatically remove unions—it makes them stand for re-election,” said AFFT Special Counsel David Osborne. “It’s only fair that public employees should get to vote on who represents them, and democracy would force union officials to reassess their model and prove their value to public employees,” he said. Overall, it is estimated that only 23 out of 65 total teachers unions in Florida passed the 60% threshold in 2022, while the rest varied from as low as 36% to 59%.