Sunshine Sentinel

Florida public sector workers should not feel compelled to join a union and pay dues, a free-market activist with a group that recently announced its support for legislation in the Florida Legislature regarding union membership, said during a recent interview.

"The idea that workers should be free to easily join and leave a union are the most important elements of this proposal," James Madison Institute Vice President of Policy Sal Nuzzo told the Sun Shine Sentinel in reference to House Bill 1. "Unions currently rely on public employers to collect dues and remit them to the union. This doesn’t happen in any other arena, and it is fraught with problems."

HB 1 and similar legislation would level the playing field by bringing union membership in line with other memberships, Nuzzo said.

Logan Padgett

"Ultimately, a public sector union should be like any other organization and recruit members and take care of their own dues collection," he said. "Aside from that, this proposal will create competition for representation. Why shouldn't employees have multiple groups competing to provide their services? For far too long, public sector unions have operated as monopolies, and erected unreasonable barriers to employees who wish to not continue to be a part of them."

James Madison Institute is a Tallahassee-based free-market think tank and a member of the State Policy Network, a nonprofit umbrella organization for a consortium of conservative and libertarian think tanks that work on state-level policy.

Last week, James Madison Institute announced its support for HB 1, saying the legislation would "guarantee that the rights of public employees are protected by ensuring that their decision to become part of a union is knowingly and voluntarily made."

James Madison Institute was joined in its support by Americans for Prosperity, a liberty-minded advocacy group funded by brothers David and Charles Koch, according to the announcement.

"This bill doesn't just bring Florida in compliance with the law, it removes barriers that prevent public employees from realizing their full potential in their lives and careers," Florida Director for Americans for Prosperity Skylar Zander was quoted in the institute's announcement. "Public employees in Florida should know that no one can force them to give up part of their hard-earned paycheck in order to stay employed."

House Bill 1, titled Dues and Uniform Assessments, was introduced into the Florida House last month by Rep. James William "J.W." Grant (R-Tampa). The bill currently is in the House State Affairs Committee.

"This bill requires a public employee who desires to join a union to sign an authorization form, to say. 'I want to opt in,'" Grant said during a subsequent committee meeting. "It must also state the union membership and payment of dues is voluntary and that an employee may not be discriminated against if they refuse to join."

That level of confidence for non-joining workers is important, Grant said during the same committee meeting.

"The perception of retribution is real," he said. "What I think is nuts is to pretend that we don’t have employees in this state who are scared to simply walk in and say they want out. What I think is nuts is that we should just be able to document that someone wants to engage or revoke in the membership of a labor organization."  

Companion legislation in the state Senate is Senate Bill 804, Employee Organization Dues and Uniform Assessments, which has been in that chamber's Governmental Oversight and Accountability committee since November. SB 804 is sponsored by Sen. Jeff Brandes (R-St. Petersburg).

Neither Grant nor Brandes has yet responded to Sun Shine Sentinel requests for comment.

Teacher groups in the state are among the strongest opponents of the two bills. The Florida Education Association (FEA) has referred to HB 1 as a "union busting bill" that "is an insult to educators," is "unnecessary," will "create chaos" and "places a burden on workers who want to be a member in their union."

"It has been said that the 'government is best which governs least,'" the FEA said in an article about HB 1 on its website. "This bill is a perfect example of an unnecessary government mandate. What greater good is served by requiring hundreds of thousands of employees to annually complete more paperwork?"

Limited government is part of the reason James Madison Institute has thrown its support behind HB 1, Nuzzo said.

"James Madison Institute consistently supports policies that protect the principles of limited government, market competition, and individual rights," he said. "The policies contained in this proposal align with those principles. We submitted an amicus brief in the Janus v. AFSCME case heard before the U.S. Supreme Court, and this proposal creates accountability and transparency when dealing with employee paychecks and who gets to withhold money from them."

Janus v. AFSCME is a 2018 landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling that nonunion employees in union shops cannot be compelled to pay union fees and dues, which had been the law of the land since another landmark ruling, Abood v. Detroit Board of Education, in 1977. Janus overturned the ruling in Abood that unions represent all employees, including nonunion workers, and so could compel dues and fees payments from all employees.  

While some suggested that Janus would lead to a decline in union membership, Politico reported last spring that the nation's largest unions "remain surprisingly flush" and others have said the decision was good for unions because it encouraged unions to work harder for its members to remain.

HB 1 and SB 804 remain in committee, "but it is our hope that the legislature will continue to consider it favorably," Nuzzo said