If union-busting bill passes in the Legislature, Florida workers will be the losers

Good jobs don’t happen by accident.

They exist because working people organized, bargained and fought for fair wages, safe conditions and a measure of dignity on the job. Unions are the reason the middle class has a floor to stand on — and in Florida, that floor is being ripped out from under us.

Right now, career politicians in the Florida state Senate are pushing Senate Bill 1296 — and if it passes, it will be a direct assault on working Floridians’ ability to have a voice on the job. This is not a technical tweak to labor law. It is the latest move in a deliberate campaign to destroy public-sector unions in our state.

This is happening at the very moment when life in Florida is becoming increasingly unaffordable. Families are being crushed by insurance premiums, soaring rents and health care costs. Florida has always been a place people come to start fresh — to own a home, give their kids a good life and work their way into something better.

But for too many families right now, that promise is slipping away.

This fight is personal to me. My wife, Rachel, comes from a family of teachers, and my dad was a proud union member; their union card was their pathway into the middle class. They had a union contract that said they deserved fair wages, safe conditions and a measure of respect for the work they did. Laws like SB 1296 put that kind of stability further out of reach for today’s workers.

And none of this is inevitable.

This is what happens when corrupt career politicians answer to anti-union corporate donors instead of the people they were elected to serve. As journalist Jim DeFede has reported, these bills are the product of a shadowy, well-funded campaign — not some organic demand from Florida voters. Teachers, nurses and bus drivers didn’t ask for this. The lobbyists did. And the politicians went along. Different leaders could make different choices.

Floridians are already struggling with low wages and too few rights at work. Senate Bill 1296 is a union-busting bill masquerading as reform.

That’s why we need federal protections for collective bargaining and why we must work with local leaders and unions to rebuild worker power from the ground up.

The question before us is simple: Will Florida be a place where working people have a seat at the table, or a place where their chairs are quietly removed through fine print and rigged thresholds?

I know which side I’m on.

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Alex Vindman is a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate from Broward County.