Florida Governor signs anti-union bill into law—and on International Workers' Day, to boot
The law (SB 1296) builds upon a previous union 'reform' effort approved by the governor in 2023 targeting one of his political enemies: teachers unions.
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As expected, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis dutifully signed into law a bill Friday targeting most of the state’s public sector unions. The bill was passed mostly along party lines in March during state lawmakers’ largely-unproductive 2026 regular legislation session.
It was just a cherry on top that DeSantis happened to give it the final stamp of approval on May 1, celebrated in dozens of countries across the world (if not in the U.S.) as International Workers’ Day.
The bill, SB 1296, was backed (and partially drafted by) billionaire-funded think tanks like the Washington State-based Freedom Foundation, with a show of support from pro-privatization allies like the Heritage Foundation and the Trump administration’s U.S. Department of Education Secretary Linda McMahon.
The bill, in part, will make it harder for most state and local government employees — with the exception of law enforcement, firefighters, and correctional officers — to form, recertify, or even decertify their unions. It does this by raising union election thresholds, effective July 1, requiring a majority vote of support from at least 50% of the bargaining unit, instead of just a simple majority of those who vote.
So, for example, if there are 100 workers in a bargaining unit (a group of workers represented by a union), at least 26 must vote in favor of forming or recertifying a union for the union to prevail — provided that at least 50% of eligible employees have voted. If the election does not see at least 50% turnout, staying at home is essentially counted as a ‘no’ vote — a key point of criticism from union leaders who have argued that even elected officials themselves aren’t held to such a standard.
It’s not necessarily a kill-shot — or it doesn’t have to be.
Public sector unions with a dues-paying membership of less than 60 percent of the employees they represent (paying union dues is voluntary as it is) must undergo annual recertification elections, under a similarly controversial 2023 law. Larger unions with hundreds or thousands of employees will, therefore, have the toughest battle ahead to either increase their dues-paying membership or increase voter turnout in order to survive.
Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka, the Republican House sponsor of the bill, argued, “This bill won’t end unions. The unions will end themselves when they lose their way and focus more on politics than on representing the employees at the bargaining table.”
Andrew Spar, president of the Florida Education Association — a statewide teachers union, affiliated with the National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers — wasn’t impressed with the rhetoric. “Today, the Governor’s signing of SB 1296 is yet another entry in a long line of betrayals of working Floridians by Gov. DeSantis in favor of out-of-state, billionaire-backed, special interest groups,” Spar, a former music teacher, said in a statement after the governor’s signing ceremony Friday.
Kimberly Holdridge, president of the Florida AFL-CIO — the state’s largest federation of labor unions — offered similarly scathing remarks, ending on a hopeful note. “While wealthy special interests might believe they have the power in the halls of the Florida Capitol, Florida’s public sector workers have the power and support in our communities statewide to show them otherwise,” she said in a statement. “We will organize and come back stronger than ever.”
Notably, not a single word was uttered at the governor’s press conference and signing ceremony about how the new law would affect public employees other than teachers, such as public utility workers, nurses, code compliance officers, and civilian employees in law enforcement departments who (shocker!) have also formed unions over the years to collectively advocate for equitable pay and good working conditions.
Indeed, roughly 27% of Florida’s public sector is unionized, according to federal data, compared to 3.4% of the state’s private sector workforce.
But, instead of recognizing or acknowledging the state’s long (and occasionally militant) history of public sector organizing — dating back to at least the mid-20th century — DeSantis instead focused his messaging on how the bill would streamline “the decertification of partisan teacher unions,” claiming that teachers unions have “historically been viewed as a problem in terms of how education’s worked in this country.”
No citation, no source. Just a thought.
It’s common knowledge that DeSantis is antagonistic towards teachers unions because they fought his administration’s loose approach to masking and other critical protections for educators and students during the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 93,000 people died of COVID during the pandemic in the so-called ‘Free State of Florida’ alone.
Teachers unions are also proponents of public education, which gets in the way of the DeSantis adminstration’s school “choice” agenda and the broader political right-wing’s efforts to privatize education and weaken federal agencies like the Department of Veterans Affairs to extinction.
Florida’s Senate Bill 1296, carried by Sen. Jonathan Martin in the state Senate, is notably a follow-up to another law (SB 256) that DeSantis and the state Legislature approved in 2023 that has already gutted union representation (and protections guaranteed under their former union contracts) for over 69,000 public sector employees, including utility workers, adjunct faculty, nurses, and state-employed attorneys — but notably not a single K-12 teachers’ union.
In addition to changing union election thresholds, SB 1296 also eliminates the option of forming a union through voluntary recognition in the public sector and prohibits public employees from using paid leave or benefits to engage in union “activities,” with limited exceptions.
Dozens of self-described Republicans traveled to Tallahassee in March to publicly testify against the legislation ahead of its passage, including a teacher whose husband “works closely” with the “Charlie Kirk Foundation” and a Charlotte County employee who was wrongfully terminated and only managed to get his job back thanks to his union.
“This bill hits those of us on the ground, fixing lines, running plants and keeping water safe,” said Mike Smith, a city water plant operator and self-described Republican from Cape Coral, speaking to the Senate Fiscal Policy committee in early March. “The union gives us a voice, protecting fair pay and safe conditions,” he continued. “Without that, we lose what keeps us steady. Stability and experience matter.”
Read my full story on this for Orlando Weekly here.
This post has been updated to clarify changes to union election rules made under the new law, regarding requirements for at least 50% voter turnout.