New Organizing and Union Elections in Florida | February 2025
Catch up on new organizing in Florida, feat. Starbucks workers, a win for a new public sector union in Jacksonville, and more.
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Florida, like other states in the South, is regularly dismissed as a “non-union” state, where decades of anti-union policies, and deep-rooted corporate and political resistance to unions have stunted and degraded the labor movement’s power.
Only about 6% of workers in Florida even have union representation, and just 5% are dues-paying union members — below the national average. But new organizing does happen here in the Sunshine State, maybe more often than you’d think.
In order to file a petition for a union election, at least 30% of workers need to sign what are known as showing-of-interest cards demonstrating their support for unionization (generally, organizers shoot for a higher percentage, in case the employer tries to water down support for the union ahead of the election). Unions can also seek certification through a voluntary recognition/card-check process, which requires showing that a majority (more than 50%) of workers support unionization.
Here’s a rundown of new organizing drives that launched this last month and union election results:
This roundup is inspired by Jonah Furman’s retired Who Gets the Bird? newsletter (RIP) and The Valley Labor Report’s similar roundup of new organizing, election results, and labor updates across the U.S. South.
ORGANIZING IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR
18 Starbucks workers in Tampa have filed a petition to unionize with Starbucks Workers United.
Going deeper: This comes directly on the heels of a separate Starbucks Workers United organizing drive that launched at a Starbucks location in Palm Beach Gardens in January. More than 500 Starbucks locations have unionized since 2021, including 11 in Florida.
17 bricklayers and bricklayer helpers employed by Pardue Masonry of Central Florida in Tampa have filed a petition to unionize with the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers, Local 8 Southeast.
60 security guards at United Parks & Resorts (a.k.a. SeaWorld) in Orlando have filed a petition to unionize with the International Union, Security, Police and Fire Professionals of America.
83 general foremen, linemen, equipment operators, grounds workers, and apprentices for Southern Electric Corporation in Pembroke Pines filed a petition to unionize with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 222.
Going deeper: Southern Electric Corporation workers in Miami similarly launched a campaign to unionize with Local 222 in 2023, but ultimately ended up voting 47 to 56 against unionization. According to their website, Local 222 “represents Lineworkers in the powerline construction industry, line clearance tree trimmers, and DOT traffic signalization workers in the entire state of Florida, along with the Caribbean Islands.”
36 auxiliary operators, control room operators, equipment operators, maintenance mechanics, and others employed by Reworld Waste at the Hillsborough County resource recovery facility in Tampa filed a petition to unionize with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 108.
Meanwhile, 29 employees of Peoples Gas System/TECO in Sarasota filed a petition to decertify their union, affiliated with the IBEW Local 108.
ELECTION RESULTS
Aircraft fuelers employed by PrimeFlight Aviation Services in Orlando unanimously voted 42 to 0 in favor of unionizing with the Transport Workers Union, out of 60 eligible voters. This is the first group of PrimeFlight employees in the U.S. to unionize with the TWU, a union spokesperson confirmed — although some of the aircraft service provider’s workers elsewhere have in the past voted to join 32BJ SEIU (it’s unclear to me whether 32BJ still represents them).
Baristas and shift supervisors at a Starbucks in Tampa (Edit: the same listed above) reportedly voted 11 to 2 in favor of unionizing with Starbucks Workers United, according to the West Central Florida Labor Council. There were 18 employees eligible to vote.
ORGANIZING IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR
Corrections captains employed by the Volusia County Department of Corrections in Daytona Beach filed a petition to unionize with the International Union of Police Associations, according to a petition I obtained through a records request. Out of 6 eligible bargaining unit employees, 5 have signed cards in support of unionization.
Going deeper: This comes after corrections lieutenants in Volusia County already unionized with IUPA themselves in 2022. The union also represents senior lifeguards and other beach safety employees represented by Volusia County, as well as corrections officers and sergeants and deputy sheriffs, corporals, and sergeants in the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office.
Battalion chiefs for city of Melbourne’s fire department have filed a petition to unionize with the Melbourne Fire Fighters Association, affiliated with IAFF. According to a petition I obtained through a records request, all 6 of the department’s battalion chiefs have signed cards in support of unionization.
Going deeper: The union already represents Melbourne firefighters, driver-engineers, and fire lieutenants. The city actually chose to voluntarily recognize the union back in 1976 — an option that Republican lawmakers in Florida are now trying to get rid of.
The Public Employees Relations Commission dismissed a petition filed by the Fort Lauderdale Fraternal Order of Police to expand their union at the Fort Lauderdale Police Department, citing the union’s failure to file showing-of-interest cards to demonstrate employees’ support for unionization. Under state law, at least 30% of employees the union seeks to represent must sign cards in support of unionization and submit those to PERC along with their representation petition. The union sought, in filing its petition, to add job classifications to an existing bargaining unit of Fort Lauderdale police captains and lieutenants. The union currently represents a bargaining unit of Fort Lauderdale police officers, sergeants, and airport cops.
The Florida Police Benevolent Association withdrew a petition they filed in August to represent community service officers and police dispatchers at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. There is no explanation provided for the withdrawal.
The Palm Beach Police Benevolent Association also withdrew a petition to represent school police captains in the Palm Beach County school district. Kind of odd, considering all five police captains eligible to join had signed cards in support of unionization when the union first filed for a union election back in December. So it goes.
ELECTION RESULTS
Gathered from the state Public Employees Relations Commission:
Staff for the Jacksonville Housing Authority in Jacksonville voted 77 to 1 in favor of unionizing with the Independent Association of Public and Private Employees, out of 102 eligible voters.
Going deeper: The IAPPE is a new union, founded by former AFSCME Council 79 staffers, that only registered with the state in 2023. One of the co-founders, Torrence Johnson, is a former regional director for AFSCME Council 79 (covering Florida) who was allegedly dismissed by AFSCME after the passage of Florida’s anti-union law, SB 256, along with other union staff. Employees at the Jacksonville Housing Authority were previously represented by AFSCME, until the union was decertified by the state last January. According to state records, the union was decertified because fewer than 60% of workers represented by the union were dues-paying members and the union did not file a petition for a recertification election, as it was required to under those circumstances. It’s one of roughly three dozen bargaining units in Florida formerly represented by AFSCME that have been decertified since the anti-union law fully took effect Oct. 1, 2023.
Police officers and detectives for the Clermont Police Department in Clermont unanimously voted 42 to 0 in favor of unionizing with the Florida Police Benevolent Association, out of 60 eligible voters.
Going deeper: Clermont police officers first unionized with the Orange County PBA (later renamed the Central Florida PBA) in 1985 (their certification number was 666 — make of that what you will), but records show the union disclaimed interest in continuing to represent the officers in 1998. Evidently, the officers didn’t like the idea of not having a union. Officers organized again with the Florida PBA in 2000 — but just four years later, officers voted to reject the PBA, voting 21 to 0 in favor of instead unionizing with the International Union of Police Associations. Didn’t last. Twenty years later, just last November, the IUPA itself disclaimed interest in continuing to represent Clermont police officers. This paved a path for those officers to re-organize again this last month with the PBA.
Deputy sheriffs and corporals for the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office voted 102 to 180 against unionizing with the Florida State Lodge, Fraternal Order of Police, out of 309 eligible voters.
Going deeper: This is after PERC previously dismissed a petition for a union election from the FOP last year, solely because the union’s registration was not up to date when they filed.
Employees of the South Florida Water Management District voted 90 to 41 in favor of unionizing with the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 30, out of 246 eligible voters. A group of supervisory workers for the South Florida Water Management District, meanwhile, voted 9 to 15 against unionization, out of 38 eligible voters.
Going deeper: These employees were previously represented by a different IUOE local, but their union was decertified last February. Interestingly though, Local 30 filed a petition to represent these workers all the way back in Oct. 2023 — before the workers’ former union was decertified. Pretty incredible then that it took more than a year for the election to finally occur (although, with PERC’s backlog, maybe it’s not so surprising, especially with a more complicated case).
Blue-collar city workers employed by the city of Vero Beach — including electricians, maintenance, and utility workers — voted 85 to 0 in favor of *recertifying the Teamsters Local 769 as their union, out of 141 eligible voters.
Non-supervisory blue-collar workers employed by the city of Palm Bay voted 149 to 2 in favor of recertifying the National Association of Government Employees as their union, out of 206 eligible voters.
Full-time professors, curators, university librarians, and other university staff employed by the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) in Tallahassee voted 170 to 4 in favor of recertifying the United Faculty of Florida as their union, out of 519 eligible voters.
A group of blue- and white-collar workers employed by the Nassau County school district in Fernandina Beach— including accountants, bus drivers, mechanics, and others — voted 210 to 11 in favor of recertifying the Nassau Educational Support Personnel Association as their union, out of 636 eligible voters.
Teachers employed by the Liberty County school district in Liberty voted 42 to 3 in favor of recertifying the Liberty Education Association as their union, out of 95 eligible voters (apparently Liberty County is the least populous county in Florida — must be a small school system).
Teachers, guidance counselors, media specialists, and school counselors employed by the Okeechobee County school district in Okeechobee voted 136 to 7 in favor of recertifying the Okeechobee County Education Association as their union, out of 457 eligible voters.
School bus drivers, bus monitors, and other transportation employees for the Seminole County school district in Sanford voted 111 to 4 in favor of recertifying the Seminole County School Bus Drivers’ Association as their union, out of 371 eligible voters.
Maintenance workers, roads technicians, and other blue-collar employees employed by Monroe County in Key West unanimously voted 50 to 0 in favor of recertifying the Teamsters Local 769 as their union, out of 126 eligible voters.
Teachers, counselors, media specialists, and other non-administrative workers for the Washington County school district in Chipley voted 121 to 5 in favor of recertifying the Washington County Education Association as their union, out of 266 eligible voters.
Librarians, building and permitting clerks, recreation coordinators and other employees of the city of Lighthouse Point voted 21 to 2 in favor of recertifying the Federation of Public Employees as their union, out of 46 eligible voters.
Mechanics, account clerks, custodians, electricians, victim advocates and other city of Margate employees voted 33 to 2 in favor of recertifying the Federation of Public Employees as their union, out of 157 eligible voters.
Supervisory operational personnel employed by the Lake County school district in Tavares voted 26 to 7 in favor of recertifying the Service Employees International Union-Florida Public Sector Union (SEIU-FPSU) as their union, out of 156 eligible voters.
Classroom teachers for the DeSoto County school district voted 81 to 5 in favor of recertifying the DeSoto County Educators Association in Arcadia as their union, out of 256 eligible voters.
Administrative, technical, and clerical employees of the city of Orlando voted 171 to 6 in favor of recertifying the Service Employees International Union-Florida Public Sector Union (SEIU-FPSU) as their union, out of 668 eligible voters.
Equipment operators, fleet mechanics, utility specialists and other blue-collar employees of Florida City (yes, that’s a place) voted 5 to 0 in favor of recertifying the Teamsters Local 769 as their union, out of 30 eligible voters.
Communications operators, administrative associates, and other white-collar employees of the city of Boynton Beach voted 26 to 3 in favor of recertifying the Service Employees International Union-Florida Public Sector Union (SEIU-FPSU) as their union, out of 97 eligible voters.
*Note on recertification: Under a controversial state law enacted in 2023 (S.B. 256), public sector unions are forced to petition for a recertification election if they report less than 60% membership to the state. Under the new law, unions must maintain a dues-paying membership of at least 60% of employees eligible for union representation. If they do not, they must petition for recertification within 30 days of submitting annual registration renewal paperwork to the state. If they do not file such a petition, the bargaining unit is decertified.
That’s it for this month. Have thoughts? Feedback? Drop a comment below.