Florida - Wednesday May 11, 2023: The Florida Education Association (FEA) has filed a lawsuit against the Florida Public Employees Relations Commission (FPERC) to prevent implementation of Senate Bill 256 which Governor DeSantis signed into law on Tuesday.
SB 256 bans payroll deductions for union dues, restricts the freedom of educators and other working people to join unions, forces local unions to undergo costly audits, and requires that an arbitrary 60-percent super majority of eligible employees pay dues in order for a union to exist.
The new law takes effect July 1, the FEA wants the court to issue an injunction to prevent the Public Employees Relations Commissions from "enforcing the provisions of SB 256."
The FEA is a statewide federation of teacher and education worker labor unions. It has 145,000 members making it the largest union in the state.
The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in the Gainesville Division of the Federal Court for the Northern District of Florida. It cites the First Amendment right of freedom of speech and the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment as reasons for the Court to overturn the new law.
“We maintain that this law is unconstitutional on its face, irrespective of any bad motives on the part of the Governor," said FEA President Andrew Spar. "However, we do believe that there are bad motives.”
The lawsuit maintains that SB 256 "makes drastic changes to Florida's collective bargaining system." It cites a number of "valid, binding, active contracts" which have secured agreements from various public schools systems and state universities establishing the FEA's right "to collect voluntary membership dues via payroll deduction."
It also asserts that the provisions of the new law are discriminatory because it applies "onerous restrictions and rules exclusively to public sector unions" except for unions that represent "law enforcement officers, correctional officers, correctional officers, correction probation officer, or firefighters." That creates "a favored class of unions ... and a disfavored class," states the lawsuit.
"We are seeking to enjoin defendants from implementing and enforcing provisions in Senate Bill 256 as it imposes significant harm on disfavored unions, to silence the opponents of Governor DeSantis," said Spar.
The FEA has been a frequent critic of the Governor who himself has been a frequent critic of the union citing a previous lawsuit the FEA filed against his decision to re-open public schools during the COVID pandemic.
“The Governor is using this legislation to retaliate against his critics," said Spar. "Very similar to what we’ve seen in the attacks on Disney as well.”
Read the news release from the FEA in full below:
FEA files federal lawsuit against SB 256
TALLAHASSEE — As was announced today at a virtual press conference, the Florida Education Association (FEA) and three affiliated unions have filed a federal lawsuit against Senate Bill (SB) 256, which was signed into law Tuesday by Gov. Ron DeSantis. The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, Gainesville Division.
We assert that the law is unconstitutional on its face. It violates educators’ rights to freedom of speech and association under the First Amendment and equal protection of laws under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Further, the law diminishes our contract rights by impeding on valid binding active contracts with our universities and school districts that were bargained for and secured under collective bargaining agreements.
“We, as educators in Florida, exercise our constitutional rights, and for doing so we have faced political retribution by the governor of this great state,” said FEA President Andrew Spar. “Gov. DeSantis has made it clear that he is targeting educators because we exercise our constitutional right to speak out against attempts by this governor and others to stymie the freedom to learn and to stifle freedom of thought.”
In the complaint, FEA and its affiliates seek to enjoin the defendants from implementing and enforcing provisions of SB 256, as it imposes significant harms on certain disfavored unions in order to silence Gov. DeSantis’ opponents.
To see the lawsuit as filed, go here: https://feaweb.org/2023FEAlawsuit
SB 256 bans payroll deductions for union dues, restricts the freedom of educators and other working people to join unions, forces local unions to undergo costly audits, and requires that an arbitrary 60% super majority of eligible employees pay dues in order for a union to exist.
Named as plaintiffs on the complaint against the law are the Alachua County Education Association, United Faculty of Florida-University of Florida, United Faculty of Florida and FEA. Named as defendants in their official capacities are Donald J. Rubottom, chair of the Florida Public Employees Relations Commission; Jeff Aaron, commissioner of the Florida Public Employees Relations Commission; and Michael Sasso, commissioner of the Florida Public Employees Relations Commission.
Speakers at today’s press conference included FEA President Andrew Spar; Noel Candelaria, secretary-treasurer of the National Education Association; Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers; Carmen Ward, president of the Alachua County Education Association; and Paul Ortiz, president of United Faculty of Florida-University of Florida; along with attorneys Leon Dayan of Bredhoff & Kaiser and Kimberly Menchion, FEA general counsel/director of Legal Services.
For a recording of today’s press conference, go here: https://www.facebook.com/floridaea