Legislative Update #2

Legislative Update #2 March 13, 2019 An Abbreviated Report Due to the NEA Higher Education Conference later this week and a light committee agenda, this will be a brief report on today’s action on CS/HB 839 and more specifically the “objective, nonpartisan, and statistically valid survey that enables comparisons among universities on the intellectual freedom and viewpoint diversity at each institution.” The UFF Senate Position As you may recall, the UFF Senate voted unanimously for… Continue reading

Legislative Update #1

Legislative Update #1 March 8, 2019 Legislative Session Begins – Fund Our Future On March 4th, the day before session began, FEA and UFF members were involved in many events statewide to support the FEA campaign #FundOurFutureFL. One example was members from the Leon Classroom TeachersAssociation and all five Tallahassee UFF chapters rallying and waving signs in front of the Old Capitol building. They were joined by FEA President Fed Ingram, FEA VP Andrew Spar,… Continue reading

Action Against Decertification

  Take Action Against Decertification Bill The House Government Accountability Committee will hear HB 25 on Tuesday, December 5, 2017, at 10:30 am. This bill—sponsored by Representative Scott Plakon—, if passed, would add an additional requirement to an employee union’s annual renewal with the Public Employees Relations Commission. That requirement is that each certified bargaining unit of a registered employee organization (UFF) must provide the number of eligible employees for union membership and the number… Continue reading

Decertification Talking Points

  What Can You Do? Identify Talking Points This bill (H.B. 25) comes as no surprise as we have seen efforts like this before in Florida – and numerous nationwide attempts — to take away workers’ rights. This politically motivated legislation is a solution looking for a problem that doesn’t exist in Florida. We are a union of members who choose to participate – no one can be forced to join our union. Florida is… Continue reading

Make Some Calls

  What Can You Do? Identify Talking Points Read the talking points Make Some Calls Please call committee members at their district office or their Tallahassee office tomorrow or Tuesday morning and ask them to vote NO on HB 25. Calling is more effective than e-mails, but any contact is needed now. Member of Committee District Office Tallahassee Office E-mail Address Matt Caldwell (R) Chair (239) 694-0161 (850) 717-5079 Matt.caldwell@myfloridahouse.gov Jayer Williamson (R)Vice Chair (850)995-3698… Continue reading

Union Busting

  Union Busting Bill Today we saw the release of the first anti-union legislation to be filed for the 2017 legislative session (HB 11 Information) . This union busting bill comes as no surprise as we have seen efforts like this in Florida before – and numerous nationwide attempts to weaken unions. This is politically and ideologically motivated. If a senate companion is filed and the bills are passed by both chambers, HB 11 by… Continue reading

Student Support

  Student Food Pantry drive Bring food to the Chapter Meeting At the upcoming chapter meeting, we are holding a food drive. If you have a moment, please join us in bringing any of the following items, which the Student Food Pantry reports are running low, to the chapter meeting: Grains: Bread, Cereal, Rice, and Pasta rice and rice mixes canned pastas noodle mixes dry noodles and pastas macaroni and cheese mix cold cereals bran… Continue reading

FEA Action Center Alert

Your retirement under attack yet again The Florida Retirement System (FRS) was the hot topic this week as it came under attack yet again by House Republican leaders. In what seems to be an ugly tradition, Republicans are continuing to fight to weaken the FRS. Florida currently has a very healthy retirement system, funded at 86.6 percent, which is well above what is considered to be a healthy pension system. It could be even higher,… Continue reading