For more than a century, Miami-Dade’s public servants — from teachers to transit operators — have shaped the county’s labor landscape through collective bargaining. Unions have long been the primary vehicle for negotiating wages and working conditions. Now, local labor leaders say that foundation faces an existential threat.
Florida Senate Bill 1296, passed on March 11 and awaiting Gov. Ron DeSantis’ signature, imposes stricter recertification requirements for public sector unions to remain certified. The measure requires at least 50% of all employees in a bargaining unit to participate in an election. The union must then win 50% plus one of that total, rather than a majority of those who vote, as is currently the case.
Supporters say the change ensures accountability.
“We have example after example where a bargaining unit represents hundreds or thousands of employees and only a handful show up and vote,” said Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka, R-Fort Myers, who sponsored the bill in the House. “That is a problem, and that is the problem that we are now seeking to solve with this legislation.”
Critics, however, view it as the latest step in a years-long effort to dismantle organized labor in Florida.
A targeted blow
Jeffery Mitchell, president of theSouth Florida AFL-CIO, which represents more than 250,000 workers, describes the bill as an unnecessary extension of state interference. He estimates that 30,000 county and hospital employees in Miami-Dade — not accounting for an additional tens of thousands of teachers — could be affected.
“This legislation is an extension of what the Florida Legislature does: create legislation for things that don’t need legislation,” Mitchell said.
The bill has also sparked accusations of political favoritism. It exempts unions representing police, firefighters and corrections officers, who tend to vote Republican, while tightening rules for teachers, nurses and transit workers.
"The Republicans seem to think that nobody else needs a union but police and fire," Mitchell said. "I mean, we bargain, they bargain. There’s no difference."
SB 1296 follows 2023’s SB 256, which banned automatic dues deductions and raised membership thresholds to 60%. That law led to the dissolution of over 100 bargaining units representing 63,000 employees statewide.
Following SB 256, the Freedom Foundation launched a multi-million-dollar campaign to decertify United Teachers of Dade (UTD). While that effort failed, with 83% of voters choosing to keep the union, the new rules under SB 1296 make such victories harder to repeat.
Teachers warn of classroom consequences
Among the largest unions potentially affected is UTD, which represents over 25,000 educators and school staff in Miami-Dade County Public Schools.
President Antonio “Tony” White described SB 1296 as "an additional pylon" to the "original union-busting" 2023 bill.
“This particular bill, if you don’t respond to it properly, could very adversely affect what we do here in Miami-Dade County,” White said. “I think the legislators often forget that working conditions are a direct reflection of our children’s learning conditions.”
UTD has been around since 1974, originating in the 1930s-era Dade County Classroom Teachers’ Association and eventually merging to form a unified, desegregated bargaining unit. It organized the 1968 statewide strike, secured an $8,000 salary increase via a 2018 property tax, and recently secured high-margin recertification.
White argues the new legislation subverts the democratic process by counting non-voters as "no" votes.
“That is a clear example of them trying to rewrite democracy,” he said. “In a democratic society, those who participate in the process are the ones who generally determine the outcome. They have simply turned that upside down.”
Under the new math, White illustrated an example: If UTD has 22,000 members, 11,001 must cast ballots for the election to be valid.
"That’s a double standard that’s not met anywhere in this country," White said. There’s no governor’s race, no state race, no leg race anywhere that follows that criteria.”
The stakes extend beyond the ballot box. Without collective bargaining, educators lose protections for wages and classroom support. White warned this could trigger an exodus of professionals from one of the country's most expensive regions.
“What we’ve worked for over the last 50-some odd years would all be for naught,” he said. “You cannot keep licensed professionals in a classroom if you strip them of all their rights.”
Turning highly degreed professionals into at-will workers, he argued, treats a career like a service job.
“They simply won’t stand for it, so they’ll simply begin to flee the system,” White said.
Transit workers
Joseph D’Elia, president of Transportation Workers Union (TWU) Local 291, which represents Miami-Dade County Transit employees, warns that SB 1296 "attacks our workers’ rights to fair representation."
If Local 291 is decertified, the collective bargaining agreement with the county becomes void.
"All benefits negotiated over 55 years would be null," D’Elia said.
This loss could cripple recruitment for a transit system that connects residents to jobs and healthcare. Tracing its roots to a 1960s Black-led labor movement, Local 291 argues that union-negotiated benefits ensure high-quality staffing.
“You’re going to get lower-quality employees, and it’s going to affect the community. The community is not going to get the service that they’re used to and that they deserve,” D’Elia said.
Union contracts also shape safety policies for both workers and riders. D’Elia pointed to the union’s opposition to a proposal that would have required bus operators to wear body cameras, saying union advocacy helped persuade county officials to back away from the idea.
“When we collectively bargain, we ask for things that make not only it safer for us, but make it safer for the riding public,” he said.
Wages are additionally at risk. Bus operators currently earn between $22 and $39 per hour. Without a contract, D’Elia fears employers could slash those standards to minimum wage.
“It could be the minimum wage, and that the max rate doesn't have to be almost $39 an hour. They could say that $25 an hour is good enough,” D’Elia said.
Hospitals and patient care
Even unions with high membership feel the threat. Martha Baker, president of SEIU Healthcare Florida Local 1991, representing Jackson Health System, called the bill "horrific and hypocritical."
While her union's numbers may shield it from immediate decertification, she views the bill as a broader attack on all public-sector workers.
“The standard that they are putting on public sector unions is unprecedented,” Baker said. “It’s an evil mission of DeSantis to attack, specifically the teacher unions, but by going for the teachers’ unions, he’s going for all public sector workers.”
Baker emphasized that union power translates directly to patient safety.
“We’ve negotiated nurse-to-patient ratios in our contract," she said. “That makes sure every patient gets the right number of nurse-to-patient ratio.”
Without these protections, she warns of instability and turnover.
"When you’re underpaid, you’re thinking about where to go next. We want our nurses focused on patient care."
What comes next
In response to the bill’s passage, Miami-Dade labor groups are shifting into aggressive organizing mode.
“The next step will probably have to take this to the public through a referendum,” Mitchell said. “Right now, the popularity of unions among people from 25 to 45 is about 70%. We need to capitalize on that."
UTD’s White struck a defiant tone, noting that labor has already cleared the state’s previous hurdles.
“We’re going to put systems in place to make sure we can meet those arbitrary goals,” he said. “This isn't the first time. 50% requirement before, with no other things, we met that requirement. They came with a 60% dues deduction, and we met that requirement. We won 209 elections in a row. So now here they are with the third strike that they want to throw out there, and we’ll meet that as well.”
Still, labor leaders warn the long-term effects could reshape the balance of power between workers and employers across Miami-Dade.
“Unions are here to protect the employees, to make sure that they have a living wage, a great benefit package,” D’Elia said. “We are not the enemy.”
