(TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA) - A Labor Union Bill backed by Governor 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 on Monday (March 2nd) to testify against the measure. 

Meantime, State 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-to-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.

Republican State Senator Jonathan Martin, 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.”

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 ill does is try to destroy a Teachers' Union and to cut the right for free public education. And that we cannot do,” Democratic State Senator Mack Bernard 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 said this legislation has focused on Public School Teachers.

To Read This Labor News Story In Its Entirety, Go To: Florida now close to dealing death blow to public worker unions