Once in place, it is nearly impossible to get rid of a public union. Florida governor Ron DeSantis found a clever way to make it possible.
Union Decertification Legislation in Florida
In May, governor DeSantis signed a bill that requires at least 60% of workers in a bargaining unit to be dues-paying members. United Teachers of Dade (UTD) did not hit the threshold.
Also, unions also can no longer automatically deduct dues from paychecks, members have to opt in. Much of the dues are used for political purposes and resentment from many teachers has built up.
Teachers Union Showdown in Florida
The Wall Street Journal explains how this unique setup has led to a Teachers Union Showdown in Florida
UTD reported 13,257 dues-paying members out of 23,558 eligible employees in a filing with the state Public Employees Relations Commission this month. That’s about 56%, some 877 members short of the threshold. This is despite heavy union campaigning to sign teachers up.
Now the issue could head to the ballot. For a recertification election, UTD needs a show of interest from 30% of relevant employees in the district. The good news is employees may not be left with a choice between the status quo and no representation.
Another union, led by Miami teachers who are dissatisfied with UTD, is trying to get on the ballot too. The Miami-Dade Education Coalition (MDEC) needs a 10% showing of interest by mid-January to qualify. The new union’s pitch is that it will fight for teachers’ and students’ interests without the politicking and divided alliances of the UTD.
“We are going to be totally and completely nonpartisan,” says MDEC Vice President Renee Zayas, a district high school teacher and former UTD member. “We will not be endorsing candidates.” In 2022 UTD endorsements included Democrat Charlie Crist against Mr. DeSantis, and union president Karla Hernandez-Mats ran for Lieutenant Governor.
Ms. Zayas says she left UTD this summer because she was tired of its partisanship and felt that it wasn’t doing enough for teachers’ wages and practical classroom needs. “More and more I saw the lack of representation of our educational staff,” she says. Meanwhile, Ms. Hernandez-Mats made a base salary of more than $200,000 in 2021.
The dues that union members pay go largely to union organizers, and politics. UTD president Mats is paid $200,000. She ran for Lieutenant Governor.
Janus v. AFSCME Supreme Court Ruling
Events in Florida bring to mind Janus v. AFSCME decided by the US Supreme Court.
By a 5-to-4 vote, with the more conservative justices in the majority, the court ruled that government workers who choose not to join unions may not be required to help pay for collective bargaining.
Rare Court Overturn
Janus overturned Abood as the New York Times explains in Supreme Court Ruling Delivers a Sharp Blow to Labor Unions
The Supreme Court dealt a major blow on Wednesday to organized labor. By a 5-to-4 vote, with the more conservative justices in the majority, the court ruled that government workers who choose not to join unions may not be required to help pay for collective bargaining.
Forcing those workers to finance union activity violated the First Amendment, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. wrote for the majority. “We conclude that this arrangement violates the free speech rights of nonmembers by compelling them to subsidize private speech on matters of substantial public concern,” he wrote.
The ruling means that public-sector unions across the nation, already under political pressure, could lose tens of millions of dollars and see their effectiveness diminished.
Justice Elena Kagan summarized her dissent from the bench, a sign of profound disagreement.
“There is no sugarcoating today’s opinion,” she wrote. “The majority overthrows a decision entrenched in this nation’s law — and in its economic life — for over 40 years.”
Wednesday’s ruling overruled the court’s 1977 decision in Abood v. Detroit Board of Education
Profound Blow to Unions
I wrote about Janus on June 27, 2018 in Supreme Court Delivers Huge Blow to Unions
VOX says, “With its 5-4 decision in Janus v. AFSCME, the Supreme Court has just imposed a right-to-work regime on public workers everywhere in the country — a profound blow to the union movement.”
The state of Illinois and other non-right-to-work states effectively force people into unions via prevailing wage laws and other means.
Unfortunately, Janus did not overturn that. Rather the State of Illinois collected dues from Janus even though he had a private business and was not in any union.
It was a big victory, but not as big as Vox made out.
Praise to DeSantis
I have nothing but praise for DeSantis for continuing the fight against public unions to a new level.
The quicker we can get rid of public unions, and teachers’ unions are the worst of the lot, the better off this nation will be.
Citing “Equity”, Chicago Will Ruin Some of the Top Schools in the Country
Chicago leads the nation in union graft. The newly elected mayor will ruin magnet schools by getting rid of performance standards on grounds of fairness.
Ahead of the Chicago mayoral election, I warned Brandon Johnson was 100% beholden to the teacher’s union. Unfortunately, I was correct.
On December 23, I wrote Citing “Equity”, Chicago Will Close Some of the Top Schools in the Country
My original title said “close” schools. I used that word based on City Journal wording that stipulated “eliminate.”
Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson’s December 14 decision to eliminate the city’s 11 selective public high schools, which use standardized tests to determine student admissions, is the latest example of this new notion of equity at play.
I changed my title from “close” to “ruin” because the schools are not being closed. Rather the admissions process will change in the name of equity, effectively ruining the schools.
Not Just Chicago
On November 13, I noted School Choice Dies in Illinois, Congratulations Teachers as 35% Read at Grade Level
Scores for public schools were just released and showed only 35% of students in grades 3 through 8 could read at grade level in 2023, according to the Illinois Report Card. Only 27% met proficiency in math.
High school juniors taking the SAT posted similar proficiency: 32% could read and 27% do math at grade level.
What Equity is Really About
Also in the name of “equity”, the teacher’s union and Gov. J.B. Pritzker killed scholarships for 9,600 poor children.
That’s how deep rot is in Illinois. Offering a chance for even 9,600 kids to get ahead is too much for the unions to handle.
The teachers’ unions do not want anyone to get ahead because it will show just how bad they are. But they cannot admit that. So they seek to eliminate any evidence of how bad they are by eliminating magnet schools and scholarships.
That’s what’s really going on. And they hide behind “equity” punishing innocent kids seeking to get ahead to hide their own incompetence and greed.
Congratulations to Everyone from Illinois Who Left
On December 21, I offered Congratulations to Everyone from Illinois Who Left
For the 10th consecutive year, Illinois lost population. Only West Virginia was worse.
Expecting Change is Madness
Anyone who thinks Illinois will change is delusional.
The only escape from Illinois madness is by leaving Illinois. Just don’t go to states equally bad if not worse, especially California, but also New York and New Jersey.
Do It For the Kids
Get the hell out of Illinois, especially Chicago, as soon as you can.
As the teachers say, do it for the kids. Except this time, it really will be for the kids (and yourself too). Illinois is madness from both a tax and education standpoint.
Totally corrupt unions run Chicago and the whole damn state. No change is in sight. Leave now. If for no other reason, do it for the kids.
Dumb down Florida even more. Great plan, Mish.
Florida has the worst teacher shortage in the nation. And states with strong teachers unions have more highly educated populations & higher per capita GDP’s than those without. But by all means, continue to drive the wealth/education divide between red and blue states even wider. After all, the blue states do need the red states to provide manual labor.
Correlation doesn’t imply cause and effect. Stat 101.
Sounds like a vote for Desantis in 24.
Watching the Peach Bowl as I read this, Ole Miss vs. Penn State. Both defenses are 90 percent Black, as is the NFL. I wonder whether the defence or offense has a higher graduation rate. Neither one looks like the student body in the stands.
I though football below the Pro’s was going to be cancelled permanently a few years ago because of all the brain injuries? What happened? Did they just say there is too much money involved to even propose crazy ideas like this?
“Chicago leads the nation in union graft. The newly elected mayor will ruin magnet schools by getting rid of performance standards on grounds of fairness.”
I read that black parents in Maryland are complaining that their children aren’t being educated. Why does Mayor Johnson not want black children in Chicago to be educated?
Democrats love to make the claim that unless you are rich, if you vote Republican, you are voting against your self interest.
In addition to losing some quality schools in Chicago they will also lose tax payers as the wealthy parents will move out of Chicago to send their kids to other schools located in the suburbs.
Education starts at home.
Justice Elena Kagan summarized her dissent from the bench, a sign of profound disagreement.
“There is no sugarcoating today’s opinion,” she wrote. “The majority overthrows a decision entrenched in this nation’s law — and in its economic life — for over 40 years.”
Segregation laws were entrenched for far longer than 40 years. The three Marxist women on the Court also upheld the mandate of an injection that the Biden administration knew was neither safe or effective.
“Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson’s December 14 decision to eliminate the city’s 11 selective public high schools, which use standardized tests to determine student admissions”
There are racial quotas in effect. For example these schools will only admit up to 35% White children. When Northside College Prep opened in 2001, enrollment was based on entrance test scores and school grades. When the Admin found out that Northside would be 75% White and that’s when quotas were put in place. The portion of White children in public schools at that time was about 8%. The admin almost had heart attacks as it would prove that the minorities (black & brown) were way below average compared to White children. The “we are born equal BS” would be exposed as BS. People can’t handle that and some would even riot and burn down police stations and places of business. We have to appease after all.
If only some “magic dirt” were available to even things out and unicorns would fart gold/silver.
Social equity, social standards and social investments equal socialism that will lead to rot, division and eventually crisis.
Once again, thank you Mish. Great article. I don’t know how you do it.
Your articles exposed some of the rot we have in our nation.
Asshole alert-all teachers unions suck-I place them all right behind Hamas-incompetent deadbeats-they all embrace evil Democratic incompetent fucked up destruction of traditional American values of hard work, family values, patriotism and religious faith, it’s ll demonic these asshole Democrats
I’m a HS Math teacher in GA with 15 years of experience. I have a T6 certificate which means I have an Education Specialist degree. In total, I have 3 graduate degrees.
This next year, I get a step raise, and my base salary will be just a tad under $89K. I coach lacrosse which adds another $5K. My county contributes something like $1,500 a month into my TRS pension (~$112K gross). My pension will be 2% for every year that I work based on my highest two years salary. If I work 30 years, I will easily get $60K a year in retirement.
And the kicker is my job is recession proof. At most, they’d make me take 10 furlough days like we did back in 2009 which equated to about a 5% pay cut. No worries. Oh, did I mention that I get 13 weeks off, and our calendar never has me going more than 6-7 weeks before having at least a week off? I think we get ~ 10 paid sick days.
As you may know, GA is a right to work state, so I’m NOT in a union and couldn’t be happier. We see teachers move up from FLA USA frequently, and they love the big pay raise.
These are the stories regime media would never allow to be aired. Thanks for the perspective!
Interesting, my friend who is a high school math teacher with 7 years experience recently moved from union-strong New England to Georgia, took a massive pay cut, and found the students to be about 3 years behind in subject matter, and generally just less inquisitive (read: dumber.) He said the number of pointless endless meetings and duties was out of control in Georgia, and he plans to switch to online teaching after this year is over.
RRP jumped to $1.018T. RRP : 5.3%. Libor3 : %.54%. Libor3 – 3M = +0.2%.
Something is going on in the o/n market.
SPX [1W] closed < Dec 18 2023 high and under Jan 2022 high, but finally above Oct 2021 high.
The Chicago Teachers Union Contract end in June 2024. Let’s see how much Mayor Brandon Johnson gives them in a new contract. Chicago Public Schools are already short major money for this school year. I see a LARGE property tax increase coming to Chicagoans. Of course the poor will be hurt the most as the landlords will increase the rent.
Those numbers are similar for CA.
We need a new policy. Any students not able to read or do math at grade level by time of graduation after having been given extra help and time to achieve this metric, must be sent to the Soylent Green tanks!
We need good mental stock if the human race is to move forward.
The student shouldn’t be passed to the next grade if they aren’t able to read and do math at their current grade level. It’s almost impossible to get a job paying a living wage if you can’t read and/or do math at current grade levels. Passing them to the next grade just compounds the problem.
The problem with that is that you have 17 year old’s in classes with 13 year old’s and this causes social problems.
Also in most states, 16 year old’s can choose to quit school (although there may be issues with parent approval required).
If 17 year olds don’t want to be in classes with 13 years old then they should seek the help they need. I think ALL schools should have FREE tutoring after school. The teachers aren’t allowed to tutor. Other students that excel in the subject would be the tutors. I know it costs a lot of money. Better to pay for the education than a lifetime of welfare. If you quit school before age 18 you should never be able receive any welfare/free programs.
Lots of jobs don’t require high level math skills. More importantly, smart people aren’t going to do those manual labor jobs so until they can all be done by robots we need manual laborers.
On the other hand if you want to improve the mental stock, you could enforce sterilization on the mentally inferior rather than sending them to the Soylent Green tanks.
“Lots of jobs don’t require high level math skills.”
——
Which is lucky because many adults can’t even figure out simple percentages or add fractions.
Go ahead, select a random number of adults who have been out of high school for say, 20 years or more and ask them to add the fractions 1/3 + 1/2. See how many are successful.
Jojo you would be SG appetizer for sure. Move along.
The supreme court ruled this country in the Gilded Age between 1865 and 1896 and today. Trump influence will last a few more decades.
DeSantis should send the teachers on a one-way bus to Crook County Illinois. They’ll get a $200,000 / year pension + benefits and COLA. They are needed because of all the poor migrants arriving.
How bad were your teachers Mish? Awful?
You get what you pay for, don’t you…I want to know if we are still pushing “New Math”, and how many European countries went for it…
Ca produced a 1000 page guide for teachers last year on how to teach math!
I pray you are kidding.
I kid you not. Read all about it here:
link to cde.ca.gov
Even ‘new math’ isn’t a new phenomenon. It would be nice to see Mr. Lerher work this out himself, but this video is well done and an adequate substitue:
link to youtube.com
The crayon gobblers in state (US: public) schools are all they can get these days – it’s a minimum wage, minimum ability job, and most education happens at home anyway – the stats bear it out, educated mothers, and a stable home full of books is the way.
I have nothing but praises for Trump and Desantis for doing justice. Texas and Florida might do justice to Colorado and Maine. Wyoming might be next. The impeachment movement will reach a new phase.
Drump is a Lyin’ SoS. He’s not capable of running the country and should be put in Jail or beat soundly in an election and put out to pasture with another 2nd rate “reality TV show”. He has no grip on reality and should spend his time making up his golf score and chasing porn stars. That’s all he’s good for.
Hunter? Hunter Biden! When did you get your laptop back, bro?
Unions are another dishonest tool of the the left. Most purport to do good apolitically for their workers, but we can all see how unions are grotesquely warped into serving as just another political constituency and platform for the left. Unions spend vastly more resources and time advancing the worst of the divisive, destructive, and discriminatory marxist ideology, instead of just advocating for and serving workers. I’d support unions if they actually were apolitical tools for workers, but given the leftist rot within them, I’m for abolishing them.
Especially those commie cops, with their PBAs. Real leftists.
Public sector unions have a win-win situation. They take money from the constituents and then get proUnion politicians purchased. So at negotiation time, it’s union on both sides of the table. Win Win … unless you’re the taxpayer or the children (in the case of teacher’s unions). So unions win, purchased politicians win, democrats win … taxpayers and students lose.
When you see how hard the unions and the Democrats fight back on this issue it will make Israel’s invasion of Gaza look like a traffic stop on a car going 10 MPH over the speed limit. They will fight to the death and use weapons we haven’t even heard of yet.
It’s astounding that America of all places doesn’t have “dues-paying union membership” as the default or compulsory setting. Obviously unions are political vehicles, as much as PACs and NGOs and “mainstream media organisations” are.
Unions have been in long term decline since the 1950s. From a peak of 35% of all workers in 1954, to 20% in 1983 to 10% today. The question is, will this decline continue, or does it have a chance to turn around?
My expectation is for a short revival as long as Biden is president; then when Republicans win the presidency again; the decline will resume.
This leaves the vast majority of workers on their own. To protect yourself, always keep adding to your skills and knowledge in order to keep relevant in today’s job market. Don’t rely on a union, a company, or the government to guarantee you a decent job. That is up to you.
That less than 10% number, according to the BLS, is for PRIVATE unions. Public unions were at 53%, last I checked.
And yet, last year, it seemed like everyone was on strike. CNBC counted nearly 400 strikes in 2023 (link to cnbc.com) and according to the below article, there were 3X more strikes in 2023 than usual: These are amazingly high numbers for a segment of the workforce that the BLS claims is less than 10%!
——
Unions made 2023 the year of the strike. What will happen next?
The number of workers on strike nearly tripled this year.
Max Zahn
December 26, 2023, 6:05 AM
link to abcnews.go.com
Nope. Only 33% of public sector workers are in unions. That is 7.1 million union workers.
Correct. Only 6% (less than 10%) of private sector workers are unionized. That is 7.2 million union workers.
OK, I was wrong: It would have been helpful for everyone if you cited the source URL. Here it is:
——
Highlights from the 2022 data:
• The union membership rate of public-sector workers (33.1 percent) continued to be more than five times higher than the rate of private
-sector workers (6.0 percent). (See table 3.)
link to bls.gov
Yep. Same source.
The only place where Unions remain strong is in government work. That’s the last bastion they cling to and what is currently under attack and will eventually be done away with.
There are 7.2 million union members in the private sector vs 7.1 million in the public sector. Though that represents just 6% of private sector workers vs 33% of public sector workers.
Lol, just go ahead and say it: the Republican
justicesThen let’s go ahead and say it: the Democrat justices in Colorado
Actually, all 7 in Colorado are democrat … but 3 believed in innocent until proven guilty and the constitution in general. The other 4 had no interest in constitutionality …. only orange man bad.
Indeed… let the losers have their losing candidate, so they can go boo hoo when he loses. THEN put him in jail,with all the losers he didn’t pardon.
It’s not “innocent until proven guilty in the 14th amendment, if you aid an insurrection. Read it. No conviction required.
The insurrection occurred Oct 19 2020 when the liberal media had all 50+ ex CIA, FBI, etc spike holes say that hunter bidens laptop was Russian disinformation even though the national security service said it was legit. Polls show that would have swayed the swing states to Trump. That was the Democrat, deep state insurrection
So does one of the Imams of the Democrat woke Mutaween just have to declare a fatwa, and alakazam, Democrats get to bypass a trial and jury and shotgun their target straight to jail – democracy saved?
Public Unions are the scourge of the nation
Currently 6 of the 9 have been appointed by Republican presidents. So at least 1 did not vote on what you consider to be ‘party lines’.
The 5-4 vote was a victory for what most people would consider common sense. Why should anyone be forced to pay union dues if they are not in the union? Forcing someone to pay is akin to strong arm tactics of the 20s and 30s when mobsters forced businesses to pay for ‘protection’.
Exactly!
There have been 4 justices appointed since the late great Mitch Mcconnell decided that we only needed 50 votes instead of 60 to confirm a supreme court justice. They are all overt politicians that barely got 50 votes, 3 republican and 1 democrat.
It was the right decision, regardless of party.