Orlando made it big in the news cycle this year, but as always, we suspect a few big headlines fell just under the radar.
While Florida’s abortion rights fight raged on, an anti-abortion center opened in Kissimmee. While the city announced ambitious new cosmetic plans for downtown, homeless people were targeted with a local law banning public sleeping. While Disney geared up for upgraded rides, costumed park employees passed out from the Florida heat.
Here are some of Orlando’s most important news stories that you might have overlooked in 2024.
“Florida Republican co-sponsor of child labor bill owns company with history of wage theft” (Jan. 18)
A Florida lawmaker who co-sponsored legislation that allows 16- and 17-year-olds to work on residential construction projects is himself the owner of a roofing company that’s been found guilty in the past of breaking federal wage and hour laws. Perry Roofing Contractors, a Gainesville-based company founded and led by Florida Sen. Keith Perry, has been sued at least six times for wage theft, and was later cited by the federal government. According to court records dating back to 2006, former employees who sued had claimed to be paid for piecework, and said they weren’t paid for overtime they were lawfully entitled to under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Dozens of union flight attendants for major U.S. airlines including Southwest, American and United picketed outside Orlando International Airport in February, as part of a global day of action spanning more than 30 major airports in the United States, the United Kingdom and Guam. The protest was organized as a call to improve industry standards for flight attendants. It marked a historic act of solidarity by an estimated 100,000 workers represented by three labor unions.
“New anti-abortion pregnancy center opens in Kissimmee” (June 14)
As people with an unwanted pregnancy in Florida face ever greater barriers to abortion care, a new “clinic” for pregnant people that aims to persuade people not to seek abortion care opened in Kissimmee this year. Choices Women’s Clinic is the third location in a chain of facilities operated by a local nonprofit founded and run by anti-abortion Christians. These facilities lure in people with few resources by offering free pregnancy tests, free ultrasounds, and “information about your options” as a pregnant person. Critics call them “fake abortion clinics.”
City officials in Orlando quietly shut down the city’s decades-old citizens’ police review board following the adoption of a new state law on July 1, approved by the Republican-controlled Legislature and Gov. Ron DeSantis, that restricts local civilian oversight of law enforcement agencies. Such oversight, generally established in the form of a citizen board or panel, was already restricted under Florida law from investigating or disciplining officers for alleged misconduct.
“As Florida temperatures soar, Disney World workers struggle and pass out from the heat” (July 17)
As Central Florida received warnings for dangerously high temperatures outdoors, local workers at Disney World said their employer wasn’t taking their health and safety seriously, just days after two live performers passed out on the job. Teamsters Local 385 President Walt Howard told Orlando Weekly that Disney is only compliant to union safety requirements when pushed, adding that it “has become unresponsive to characters’ safety.”
“Man protesting outside Orlando abortion clinic arrested for spitting on patient escort” (July 19)
A middle-aged man from Melbourne was arrested by an Orlando Police Department officer in May after spitting on a pro-choice volunteer outside abortion clinic the Center of Orlando for Women. Although no firearm was used during this altercation, video footage also showed that during his arrest, police discovered that Sepulveda was armed with a small gun attached to his ankle. The gun was not mentioned in the arrest affidavit.
“Orange County opens new medication-assisted treatment program for opioid addiction” (Sept. 12)
Just west of downtown Orlando on Westmoreland Street, the Orange County Medical Clinic launched a new medication-assisted treatment program in partnership with a nonprofit treatment provider for uninsured residents with opioid use disorder. The program, funded by money that Orange County received through national settlements with opioid manufacturers and distributors, is available at no cost, and is designed for people with chronic or severe addiction who lack the resources to access treatment otherwise.
“What happens to Lake Eola swans during hurricanes? It’s their call.” (Oct. 9)
Ahead of Hurricane Milton, Orlando Weekly questioned the city’s protocol for Lake Eola’s swans. Apparently, it’s the swans’ call. And they continue to fare quite well.
“Orange County teachers secure pumping rights for nursing educators in tentative deal” (Oct. 17)
The Orange County Classroom Teachers Association — representing nearly 14,000 staff — fought the district to enshrine pumping rights at work in the union’s next contract. The district initially shot down the union’s proposal, but the eight-member Orange County School Board overrode the district’s position and largely approved the union’s requested contract language. The association reached an impasse with the school district in mid-September, forcing the two parties to appeal to the school board for resolution. Despite reaching some agreements, the two parties were unable to agree on several issues. Teachers said the district wasn’t complying, and they want a legally binding contract.
“Nurses at two HCA hospitals in Central Florida approve new union contract” (Oct. 21)
After a contentious round of union contract negotiations, registered nurses at two HCA hospitals in Central Florida — HCA Lake Monroe in Sanford and HCA Osceola Hospital in Kissimmee — have voted to approve new contracts negotiated between their union and their multibillion-dollar employer, HCA Healthcare. According to the union, National Nurses United, the new three-year collective bargaining agreements deliver an average 15 percent wage increase for registered nurses — the largest guaranteed wage increase ever secured for nurses at both facilities, over the life of the contract — plus improvements to nurses’ “floating” policy and the option of adding personal pronouns and preferred names to name badges.
“New audit finds Orange County still incorrectly calculating transportation impact fees” (Oct. 25)
A new audit performed by the Orange County Comptroller’s Office revealed that about one-third of the impact fee assessments auditors examined were calculated incorrectly — with the majority of such cases involving overpayments, meaning the county charged developers too much. Out of a sample of 32 cases, for instance, 11 were identified by auditors as overpayments, while another three involved underpayments. The largest overpayment identified was $405,543 — a charge that has since been refunded to the payer (after auditors pointed the problem out to county management).
“Federal agency rejects Brightline’s effort to delay union election for onboard attendants” (Nov. 13)
The National Mediation Board, a federal agency overseeing labor relations in the airline and rail industries, rejected an attempt by Brightline to delay a union election for their onboard service attendants in Florida, who recently announced their intent to unionize with the Transport Workers Union. The union filed a petition for an election with the National Mediation Board in August, accompanied by signed cards of support from more than 50 percent of the roughly 100 Brightline employees who would be eligible to join in a historic organizing effort. But Brightline filed an objection to the union’s application, claiming it was not a “rail carrier” and therefore not under the jurisdiction of the National Mediation Board, the administrator of the Railway Labor Act.
The Orange County Board of County Commissioners this fall had an uncomfortable discussion about how to react to a new state law that bans sleeping on public property. Many municipalities in Florida, including Orlando, already had local bans on public encampments in place that preceded the statewide ban — punishable through fines, jail time, or both. Orange County, however, does not. County leaders said they hoped new initiatives county staff have come up with — such as increasing shelter capacity, landlord incentives, and investing in “tiny homes” — will help prevent the county from being forced to arrest or jail people whose only “crime” is that they don’t have a place to sleep.
“U.S. Labor Dept. is holding nearly $400,000 for Orange County workers underpaid by their bosses” (Nov. 27)
As of Nov. 1, the U.S. Department of Labor is holding onto roughly $4.7 million in back wages for 7,484 workers in Florida who were either underpaid or unpaid in violation of federal wage and hour laws over the last three to five years. This includes 428 workers in Orange County alone who are owed nearly $400,000 in unpaid wages altogether. According to Les Rodriguez, assistant division director of the federal Wage and Hour Division in Central Florida, workers in the restaurant, service, construction and agricultural industries in Florida are disproportionately represented.
“Planned Parenthood to offer vasectomies at Orlando health clinic” (Dec. 3)
Less than one month after a ballot measure to overturn Florida’s six-week abortion ban narrowly failed to get the support it needed to pass, Planned Parenthood has decided to relaunch a program at their East Orlando clinic that offers an increasingly in-demand form of permanent birth control: vasectomies. Planned Parenthood, a key partner in the Amendment 4 campaign, will team up with VasWeb, a vasectomy provider based in Tampa, to provide safe no-needle, no-scalpel vasectomy procedures at Planned Parenthood’s East Orlando clinic, located off University Boulevard near the University of Central Florida. The service will only be available on select “vasectomy days,” since the provider isn’t someone they’re staffing in-house.
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This article appears in Dec 25-31, 2024.
