Florida lawmakers are rapidly advancing legislation backed by anti-union special interest groups that would make it harder for most state and local government employees in Florida to form or keep their union, despite protest from dozens of public sector workers who would be affected. Similar legislation was filed for consideration last year, but died ahead of any final vote.
Florida education commissioners Anastasios Kamoutsas, and his allies with the right-wing Freedom Foundation, have described the new Florida proposal (SB 1296) as a measure to boost accountability for teachers’ unions, arguing that unions are failing to effectively advocate for teachers’ best interests.
The Freedom Foundation, a free market think tank based out of Washington State, openly admits on its website, however, that they believe “government unions are the root cause of every growing national dysfunction in America.” Freedom Foundation lobbyist Rusty Brown, a former “union avoidance” consultant generally based out of Texas, didn’t deny this when questioned Monday, admitting when pressed that his group’s goal is to reduce or eliminate public sector unions.
If passed, that’s indeed what the legislation would do. Crucially, by changing the rules of union elections.
As filed, the legislation would have required a majority of eligible voters to vote in favor of forming, recertifying or decertifying a union, instead of just a majority of those who vote. Similar election rules have already been implemented in Wisconsin and later in Iowa.
The Florida proposal, however, was watered down through a last-minute amendment Monday to require a vote of at least 60 percent of support from at least 25 percent of eligible voters in a union election, instead of a majority of all eligible voters. This could prove less deadly for the many public sector unions that, under a 2023 law, are now forced to go through recertification elections annually or else risk dissolution.
Opposition across the political spectrum
This amended version of the bill still didn’t sit well with opponents, including public school teachers, bus drivers, utility workers and healthcare workers who testified against it publicly.
They’ve described the legislation as a “union busting” bill and government overreach. They argue it would infringe on their collective bargaining rights under the Florida Constitution, and fails to address issues they experience on the job and affordability struggles at home.
“I don’t know a single person in my community who is asking for this legislation,” said Jason Fults, an academic technology specialist at the University of Florida, speaking to the Senate Fiscal Policy Committee Monday — the bill’s last committee stop before heading to the full Senate chamber for a vote.
Elizabeth Wiley, a bus driver who’s also the caregiver for her mom, said the bill threatens her ability to protect her pay, her benefits, and the power she has over her working conditions through her union. “When decisions are made over our heads, when workers lose the ability to speak up, wages fall behind, benefits disappear, and families pay the price,” she said. “We’ve seen it before. We do not want to go back.”
She was one of about 100 people who provided public testimony on the bill during a three-hour hearing Monday, most of whom expressed opposition. “If a legislator truly stands for freedom, independence and the people of this state, please do not turn your backs on us,” Wiley pleaded.
“Please do not turn your backs on us.”
Elizabeth Wiley, bus driver and parental caretaker
The bill, sponsored by Republican Sen. Jonathan Martin, was approved by the Republican-dominated Senate Fiscal Policy Committee in a narrow 10 to 8 vote, mostly along party lines, after hours of testimony. Most Republican senators voted in favor, while Republican Sens. Alexis Calatayud and Ana Maria Rodriguez — both from South Florida — joined Democrats in opposition.
Republican Sen. Corey Simon, a former basketball player and union member in the private sector, filed the amendment to the bill Monday that could generously be described as a harm reduction measure for unions.
Simon, considered one of organized labor’s only occasional Republican allies in the Florida Legislature, admitted he had concerns about the bill, stating he would be voting up the bill Monday, “but today only.”
Sen. LaVon Bracy Davis, a Democrat from the Orlando area, said she still had concerns about the bill’s constitutionality, pointing to a Senate staff analysis of the bill. Florida is one of just a few states nationwide that has collective bargaining rights enshrined in its state Constitution — a protection the analysis warns could be implicated.
“The state’s compelling interest in such change may be to ensure that the majority of the employees actually want to be represented, but there may be a less intrusive means to achieve this,” the analysis notes.
Notably, the proposal carves out certain public safety unions that are known to often endorse Republicans for elected office — specifically, unions representing law enforcement, firefighters, correctional officers and EMTs.
Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka, the sponsor of the similar House version of the bill (HB 995), has described the legislation as “pro-employee” without explaining why these public safety employees shouldn’t benefit from her “pro-employee” bill, too.
This differentiation between the union rights of public safety and non-public safety employees, widely perceived as politically motivated, didn’t sit well with bill opponents.
“It’s interesting that we carve out EMTs, but then we put doctors and nurses in a whole different category,” Bracy Davis noted. “Everybody’s trying to save a life: the EMT, the doctor and the nurse. But this bill carves out EMTs, and not the doctors and the nurses.”
Sen. Martin, who’s admitted he’s never been a member of a union, said the differences between cops and other public employees is clear. “Some put on bulletproof vests when they go to work, some don’t,” he stated bluntly, earning several rebuttals during public comment.
“Although I may not wear a bulletproof vest, when a student seizes in my classroom or has a diabetic emergency, I quickly become a first responder for them,” said Raymond Robbins, a self-described Republican and father of eight who works as a civics teacher in Gilchrist County, a small rural county in north central Florida.
Robbins was one of at least a couple dozen self-described Republicans who spoke against the bill Monday. Several said they felt the bill didn’t align with their values.
“This does not stand for Republican values. It is more government, more intrusion, more red tape,” said Lisa Bush, a nurse of 25 years at the public Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami who described herself as a “proud” Republican. This bill, she said, “is going to take me away from what I do every day, which is taking care of the most volatile in Miami-Dade County.”
Building on previous reforms
Sen. Martin’s proposal — backed by business groups and anti-union “free market” think tanks — builds on a 2023 union reform law that has already resulted in the loss of union representation (and protections guaranteed under their union contract) for more than 69,000 public employees, including nurses, blue-collar municipal workers, public utility workers and attorneys employed by the state.
That 2023 law (SB256), championed by Gov. Ron DeSantis ahead of his unsuccessful bid for U.S. president, similarly made it harder for public sector unions — with the exception of public safety unions — to remain certified.
The law banned public employees from paying union dues through a paycheck deduction — the most convenient way for them to do so. It also required annual recertification elections for unions that have a dues-paying membership of less than 60 percent of the total employees they represent.
Under Florida’s “right to work” provision of the state Constitution, paying union dues in Florida is voluntary, even if you are represented by a union and benefit from union representation through guaranteed wage increases and other workplace protections. This makes it harder to convince workers — especially those struggling with affordability issues — to voluntarily pay dues to support their union.
The 2023 law was modeled after a similar Wisconsin law enacted in 2011 that resulted in a nearly 50 percent drop in union density, or the percentage of workers who have union representation. In Florida, about 27 percent of public sector workers were represented by a union as of 2025, compared to just 3.4 percent of the private sector.
‘Death by 1,000 bureaucratic paper cuts’
This latest proposal, in addition to changing union election rules, would also make a series of other changes. It would substantially increase penalties for labor strikes (which are already illegal under Florida law and haven’t occurred in decades), prevent non-public safety workers from using paid leave to engage in union-related activities, and get rid of voluntary recognition as a path to unionization for public sector workers.
Public records obtained by Orlando Weekly, including documents and email communications, show this legislation was drafted by the Freedom Foundation and the right-wing Mackinac Center for Public Policy, in collaboration with the governor’s office and the state agency that oversees public sector labor relations.
“The bottom line is this: All of the folks standing behind me, and hundreds of thousands across the state, are going to lose their rights, death by a thousand bureaucratic paper cuts, should this legislation pass,” said Dr. Rich Templin with the Florida AFL-CIO, ahead of the Senate hearing Monday. The Florida AFL-CIO is a statewide federation of labor unions, representing more than 1 million workers and retirees.
The similar House version of the bill (which still contains the original language around changes to election rules), has also cleared its committee stops and is ready for a floor vote by the full Florida House.
Florida’s 60-day legislative session is scheduled to end March 13. This legislation would need to get majority approval from both chambers before then in order to pass.
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