Florida teachers unions were wrecked after Ron DeSantis threw them this nasty curveball

Teachers unions are foot soldiers for the Democrat Party. 

They exist to serve a left-wing political agenda. 

And Florida teachers unions were wrecked after Ron DeSantis threw them this nasty curveball.

Ron DeSantis breaks the stranglehold of teachers unions

Teachers unions have become a political force that spends hundreds of millions of dollars supporting Democrats every election cycle and provides volunteers to help with get-out-the-vote efforts. 

Florida’s Constitution makes it a right that unions can collectively bargain on behalf of government employees. 

This government-granted special privilege gives teachers unions enormous power because they can negotiate the wages and benefits along with representing them in workplace disputes. 

Florida teachers are forced to accept this exclusive representation in unionized school districts. 

These unions may have been in place for decades with none of the teachers who voted for them still around. 

But Florida teachers who did not ask for or want the union are forced to accept their exclusive representation.

Removing the constitutional right to collective bargaining from the Florida Constitution is an expensive uphill battle. 

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis did the next best thing to break the power of public employee unions.

He signed Senate Bill 256 into law last year which overhauled how most of Florida’s public employee unions operate. 

“These are political organizations that are not looking out for the interests of parents or the interests of students,” DeSantis said when he signed the bill. 

The law banned the state of Florida from acting as a collection agent for unions by automatically deducting dues from paychecks. 

Public employee unions would have to have at least 60% of their members paying dues or they would face being decertified and removed. 

This keeps zombie unions that have no support from workers from remaining in place. 

Teachers unions membership declines after teachers get freedom 

The Florida Education Association (FEA), the largest teachers union in the state, revealed that it lost members since Senate Bill 256 went into law. 

A report filed with the Department of Labor revealed that it had a 15.5% decline in membership or about 20,000 teachers. 

Once teachers were given a say if their union should remain in their school support for them dropped.

Since the law passed 54 unions have been decertified. 

Teachers also had to write a check directly to the union after automatic payroll deduction was banned. 

Freedom Foundation director of research and government affairs Maxford Nelsen theorized that once teachers unions had to collect dues membership plummeted. 

“The only explanation for the sharp decline in membership is that the loss of payroll deduction made it more difficult for FEA to deceive or strong-arm educators into signing up for membership,” Nelsen wrote. 

“Even just the loss of payroll deduction and the coercive practices associated with it has allowed government unions’ membership rate to start declining towards its natural, unsubsidized level,” Nelsen continued. “That union membership has fallen so far, so fast without it is a testament to just how reliant public-sector unions have become on government backing and support.”