Florida now close to dealing death blow to public worker unions
Tallahassee Democrat | By James Call | March 3, 2026
A labor union bill backed by Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Koch-backed Freedom Foundation that opponents say represents “the final nail in the coffin” for Florida unions is headed for the Senate floor.
Teachers, nurses, electricians, plumbers, doctors and sanitation workers packed a committee room March 2 to testify against the measure. Meantime, Education Commissioner Anastasios “Stasi” Kamoutsas was seen huddling with four district school superintendents who testified for the measure. The Fiscal Policy panel ultimately voted to send it to the Senate floor on a 10–8 vote.
This year’s measure (SB 1296) fundamentally changes the rules for how public sector unions are certified to represent workers. The bill mandates labor unions must have approval of 50% plus one of all workers in the bargaining unit, including those who do not vote to maintain certification.
Sen. Jonathan Martin stands for the pledge of allegiance during opening day of the Florida legislative session Tuesday, March 4, 2025.
Sen. Jonathan Martin, R-Fort Myers, the bill’s sponsor, said his intent is to make union leaders more responsive.
“It forces the union presidents, the union leadership, to go out and say, ‘Guys, give me the vote. I know you haven’t shown up in the past. I know you don’t normally care but let me tell you why I can help you.’ And then if they fail, the voters can hold them accountable,” Martin said.
The measure is modeled after laws in Wisconsin and Iowa where government workers must recertify their unions annually through a majority vote of the entire bargaining unit. The requirement creates a bureaucratic bind for labor: To avoid decertification, unions there focus on voter turnout in the union elections over other issues and organizing.
“What this bill does is try to destroy a teachers’ union and to cut the right for free public education. And that we cannot do,” Sen. Mack Bernard, D-Palm Beach, said.
Although the measure covers all public sector unions, or 1.17 million workers, with teachers making up about 156,000 of the total, Martin this legislative session has focused on public school teachers.
The Florida Education Association and United Faculty of Florida have long been thorns in the side of Republicans. The classroom teachers and university professors opposed initiatives that expanded parental rights in schools, restricted how sex, gender, and equality are discussed in the classroom, and the availability of vouchers to pay for private schools and home schooling.
The bill carried by Martin is part of the Freedom Foundation’s campaign to eliminate public sector labor unions. The Koch-backed free market think tank argues on its website that “government unions are a root cause of every growing national dysfunction in America.” The foundation helped write the measure.
Senator Shevrin Jones applauds as President of the Senate Wilton Simpson finishes his opening statement to the Florida Senate during the opening day of the 2022 Florida Legislative Session Tuesday, Jan, 11, 2022.
When Sen. Shevrin Jones, D-Miami Gardens, asked Martin if he shared its hostility to labor unions, Martin pivoted to criticism of Lee County teachers for suing the school district over an incentive program giving bonuses to high performing teachers who agreed to transfer to low-performing schools.
“What I saw in southwest Florida disgusted me. We had kids who have one shot at the American dream and teachers in Lee County getting in the way of those kids’ success and opportunity,” Martin said.
The measure is a follow up to the 2023’s SB 256 which requires 60% of union members to pay dues to maintain certification. That bill resulted in the decertification of more than 120 local chapters representing more than 70,000 public sector workers.
Sen. Corey Simon smiles as the FAMU Marching 100 are applauded for their performance of the National Anthem on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026
Sen. Corey Simon, R-Tallahassee, offered an amendment that once a union chapter is decertified it would effectively need 15% of the workers in a bargaining unit to become recertified. Martin accepted that amendment without reviewing it: “I’m sure it’s fine,” he told Simon.
“This bill needs work. It needs a lot of work,” Simon told Martin. “I’m going to vote up on this bill today … if I can get your word that we can continue to work through this process and get a bill that is a little bit more sensible.”
