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Florida's New Teachers Union Law Appears to Have Actually Increased Union Membership


Earlier this year, Florida passed a law that requires that membership in teachers unions in the state must be at least 50% of a district's teaching staff or the union could be disbanded.  Representative Scott Plakon, a sponsor of the bill, argued that its passage was necessary as he had seen that because some teachers unions had low membership totals for many years, it was indicative that the unions might not actually be doing a good job advocating for its members.  The theory went that if a teachers union could not maintain at least a 50% membership, this was evidence that it was not doing a good job advocating for its members and therefore should be disbanded.  (The bill originally sought to include police, firefighters, and correctional officers from other public employee unions, but was stripped down to only include teachers unions).  Once that bill became law earlier this month, a lawsuit was filed by the Florida Education Association that argued the bill was actually a union-busting measure that violated Florida's Constitution and unlawfully targeted public school teachers.

However, it is interesting to note that the bill appears to have actually spurred an increase in union membership.  Reports indicate that across the state, while 13 local teachers unions have membership below 50%, on the whole, membership has actually risen since the law was passed.  I doubt that supporters of this bill intended for it to be a boon for union membership.  Rather, whether they admit it publicly or not, it was likely passed to limit and possibly even diminish the power of teachers unions in the state.  For the time being, however, it appears that teachers unions are thriving, to some extent, since this bill's passage.  The question is whether these unions can maintain this increase in union membership once a lot of the attention and focus wears off.


For additional information:  http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/education/school-zone/os-teachers-union-lawsuit-folo-20180709-story.html

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