SB 1296 and HB 995 are commonsense and constitutional

For decades, a few left-wing teachers unions have advanced a radical agenda out of step with the views of most educators.

Union bosses routinely fight to keep schools closed, block public disclosure of class syllabi, encourage student-protests during instructional time, and promote ideology in the classroom. This type of political activism hurts students and public schools. It also undermines the credibility and effectiveness of unions, which are supposed to represent all members of a bargaining unit.

In this context, SB 1296 and HB 995 are a clear and reasonable reform that makes sense for Florida’s public-sector unions, especially the teachers unions. Modeled after similar legislation in Iowa and Wisconsin, this legislation simply updates the process for certifying unions each year, ensuring they remain accountable to the members they claim to represent.

This legislation doesn’t take away workers’ rights or their ability to negotiate with their employers. Instead, it encourages unions to stay in touch with their members, which ensures that unions represent the views of all members of a bargaining unit.

Under this legislation, unions must win a simple majority of the members of a bargaining unit in a fair, secret-ballot election to remain certified. Like any election, this means union leaders have an incentive to communicate regularly with the members they serve. The process is fair and democratic: It puts the future of the union squarely in the hands of the majority of the bargaining unit.

SB 1296 and HB 995 respect the twin rights protected by the Florida Constitution, which guarantees workers the freedom to join — or not join — a union and to bargain over their wages and working conditions. It’s important to remember that when a union is certified as an exclusive bargaining unit, the union displaces the right of members and non-members alike to negotiate individually with their employer. The annual recertification process gives the entire bargaining unit a voice in how they want to be represented.

The Florida Constitution doesn’t prohibit the Legislature from enacting commonsense rules like the ones in SB 1296 and HB 995. Our state has a strong interest in ensuring public-sector unions truly represent and listen to all their members, because these unions negotiate wages, benefits, and working conditions. A union loses credibility at the bargaining table when it fails to represent all of its members and pursues a radical agenda that only a few support.

SB 1296 and HB 995’s recertification process is narrowly focused on making unions more accountable without interfering with the actual bargaining process, which remains entirely in the hands of their members. The law makes it clear that union certification depends on the support of the majority — nothing more.

The constitutional right to collectively bargain is protected because no collective bargaining agreement is limited, no bargaining subject is removed, and certification is preserved if a majority of votes cast favors representation. The decision to exercise the right to collectively bargain remains firmly where it belongs — in the hands of a majority of union members.

Detractors of this legislation argue that it is flawed because it excludes public safety unions. However, public safety unions have always been treated differently in Florida because they demonstrate significantly higher levels of accountability, transparency, and responsiveness to their members’ needs than unions representing other fields. And police officers, correctional officers and firefighters face the distinct possibility of death or serious bodily injury on a day-to-day basis.

Another misguided objection is that a union should only win a majority of votes cast in a recertification election, not a majority of all eligible voters. This argument is absurd on its face, especially considering the extraordinarily low participation rates in recertification elections.

For example, one teachers’ union was recently recertified despite only 3 of 202 members of a bargaining unit voting. This means that a mere 1.4% of the bargaining unit — union and non-union members alike — made a decision that displaced the rights of all members. It also suggests that only a tiny minority of eligible voters actively supported the union or even knew that an election was occurring. This kind of result gives public employers little confidence that a union actually represents all members.

Only a majority is required for a union to remain certified. And no union has a constitutional right to avoid the annual recertification process. A union boss’s desire to act as the exclusive bargaining agent for all members in perpetuity is inconsistent with democratic principles. The majority should control, and a popular union that truly represents all members has no reason to fear an election.

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Alan Lawson is a retired Justice of the Florida Supreme Court and a founding shareholder of Lawson Huck Gonzalez PLLC.