Take Action

Vote NO on SB 7030

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TODAY, Tuesday, March 26th, SB 7030 will be up for its next vote in the Senate Infrastructure and Security Committee. Instead of properly addressing the needs facing Florida’s teachers, staff and students, this bill is a quick and inexpensive fix that ignores the systemic failure facing our state’s education system.

If your Senator is listed below call them NOW and urge them to stand up for school safety by voting NO on SB 7030.

🚨Tom Lee📞 (850) 487-5020  
🚨Keith Perry📞 (850) 487-5008  
🚨Aaron Bean📞 (850) 487-5004  
🚨Janet Cruz📞 (850) 487-5018  
🚨Ed Hooper📞 (850) 487-5016  
🚨Travis Hutson📞 (850) 487-5007  
🚨Linda Stewart📞 (850) 487-5013
🚨Annette Taddeo📞 (850) 487-5040

If school safety was truly a concern for the Legislature, they would choose to support funding for critical services such as resource officers for every school and a sufficient number of trained mental health professionals. This bill ignores the important role guidance counselors, school psychologists and social workers have in the education system.

Professional educators know, and the voting public agrees, that teachers should not be armed with guns; instead they should be armed with better salaries and working conditions.

Tell the members of the Senate Committee on Infrastructure and Security NOT to arm teachers and to vote NO on SB 7030.

  • Student and staff safety is an issue of the utmost importance; we must address the underlying causes of bullying and violence on school campuses including mental health issues.
  • Florida’s schools are woefully understaffed with average student to staff ratios of 458:1, 1,951:1 and 2,003:1 respectively for school counselors, psychologists, and social workers.
  • The National Association of School Resource Officers says,
    “If a school determines the need for armed security, properly trained school resource officers (SROs) are the only school personnel of any type who should be armed. Our organizations believe that arming educators would cause more harm than good.”
  • Each of Florida’s 67 counties has unique needs, and each county knows best how to invest in ensuring student safety. The legislature must support local control and allow for flexibility in how school safety money is spent.
  • Please oppose any legislation that would allow more guns carried on campus by anyone other than trained law enforcement.
  • The Marjory Stoneman Douglas Commission presented dozens and dozens of recommendations towards school safety. Arming teachers should be the last recommendation considered by the legislature – not the first.
  • Teachers have a paramount duty to educate our students. They already take on more responsibilities than just teaching – they shouldn’t be asked to handle a firearm to protect their students as well.

Call the Senate Committee on Infrastructure and Security and tell them NOT to arm teachers and to vote NO on SB 7030



Vote NO on SB 7030

Staff |

TOMORROW, Wednesday, March 20th, SB 7030 will be up for its next vote in the Senate Infrastructure and Security Committee. Instead of properly addressing the needs facing Florida’s teachers, staff and students, this bill is a quick and inexpensive fix that ignores the systemic failure facing our state’s education system.

If your Senator is listed below call them NOW and urge them to stand up for school safety by voting NO on SB 7030.

🚨Tom Lee📞 (850) 487-5020  
🚨Keith Perry📞 (850) 487-5008  
🚨Aaron Bean📞 (850) 487-5004  
🚨Janet Cruz📞 (850) 487-5018  
🚨Ed Hooper📞 (850) 487-5016  
🚨Travis Hutson📞 (850) 487-5007  
🚨Linda Stewart📞 (850) 487-5013
🚨Annette Taddeo📞 (850) 487-5040

If school safety was truly a concern for the Legislature, they would choose to support funding for critical services such as resource officers for every school and a sufficient number of trained mental health professionals. This bill ignores the important role guidance counselors, school psychologists and social workers have in the education system.

Professional educators know, and the voting public agrees, that teachers should not be armed with guns; instead they should be armed with better salaries and working conditions.

Tell the members of the Senate Committee on Infrastructure and Security NOT to arm teachers and to vote NO on SB 7030.

  • Student and staff safety is an issue of the utmost importance; we must address the underlying causes of bullying and violence on school campuses including mental health issues.
  • Florida’s schools are woefully understaffed with average student to staff ratios of 458:1, 1,951:1 and 2,003:1 respectively for school counselors, psychologists, and social workers.
  • The National Association of School Resource Officers says,
    “If a school determines the need for armed security, properly trained school resource officers (SROs) are the only school personnel of any type who should be armed. Our organizations believe that arming educators would cause more harm than good.”
  • Each of Florida’s 67 counties has unique needs, and each county knows best how to invest in ensuring student safety. The legislature must support local control and allow for flexibility in how school safety money is spent.
  • Please oppose any legislation that would allow more guns carried on campus by anyone other than trained law enforcement.
  • The Marjory Stoneman Douglas Commission presented dozens and dozens of recommendations towards school safety. Arming teachers should be the last recommendation considered by the legislature – not the first.
  • Teachers have a paramount duty to educate our students. They already take on more responsibilities than just teaching – they shouldn’t be asked to handle a firearm to protect their students as well.

Call the Senate Committee on Infrastructure and Security and tell them NOT to arm teachers and to vote NO on SB 7030


Hurricane Michael Relief Efforts

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Join our dedicated website for Hurricane Michael relief efforts by clicking here or visiting www.flworkersfund.org to donate, request relief assistance, and sign up to volunteer.

As residents of the Florida Panhandle and Big Bend continue the immediate work of digging out after Hurricane Michael by dealing with the loss of electricity, needing food, water and basic necessities, the Florida AFL-CIO is working to help provide assistance for both the short and long term for the victims of this terrible storm.

The Florida AFL-CIO has established the Florida Workers Relief Fund in order to provide direct support to union members, community allies, their families, and neighbors. The funds we raise will be used to help purchase the essential items and services desperately needed by working families impacted by Hurricane Michael across the state.

Each dollar we raise will go directly to families in need, with no overhead or administrative costs. The Florida AFL-CIO is tapping our greatest resource, our members, to create a network of workers across the state who are identifying those in need and providing them the support necessary so that they can get back on their feet.

This is an excellent opportunity for your generosity to make a real difference, supporting a program of workers helping workers to help make our communities whole.

Thank you for your support.

Call Your Senator. Stop the Shutdown!

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Right now, nearly 30,000 federal workers in Florida are being denied work because of the government shutdown. That’s tens of thousands of our friends, neighbors and family members who are making sacrifices to cover their basic needs.

Click here to tell your senator to reopen the government and let Floridians do their jobs.

As the shutdown drags on, workers all across the state are suffering the impacts. Reports show that Florida workers are diving into their savings, renting out their homes, and driving up their credit card debts to pay their bills.

Playing politics with the livelihoods of working people needs to end. Putting people back to work should be the US Senate’s top priority. Politicians need to do their job and allow us to do ours.

Please take a moment to call your senator and urge them to reopen the federal government now.

🚨LEG ALERT: HB 7055 FINAL SENATE VOTE MONDAY

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On Monday, March 5th, the massive attack on our states students, teachers, and public schools will be up for a FINAL VOTE in the Florida Senate.

After removing the language from HB 7055 last week, Senators backed by Koch brothers funded corporate special interest organizations like Americans for Prosperity once again added language that would decertify our state’s teacher’s unions to this already terrible education bill.

It’s now or never as this is our last chance to stop this devastating attack on public education in Florida!

Call (855) 235-2469 and enter your zip code NOW to be connected with or leave a voicemail for your state Senator. Urge them to stand up for our public schools, our students, and our teachers by voting NO on HB 7055.

At nearly 200 pages, this massive bill makes almost 60 changes to Florida’s education laws. Many of these changes will divert hundreds of millions of tax dollars to private, for-profit schools, reduces accountability for student performance, and hurts programs for struggling students.

HB 7055 also creates a process that deceptively claims to help victims of bullying in our schools. Rather than focusing on programs that directly combat the problem of bullying in Florida schools, HB 7055 uses this issue as another means to please their donors and expand the unaccountable for-profit private school industry in our state.

Call (855) 235-2469 NOW and leave your state Senator with a message to vote NO on HB 7055. This bill would spell disaster for the future of public education in our state. We need the Florida Senate to say NO to this massive scheme to bully our students, our schools, and our teachers.

🚨LEG ALERT: Stop 7055, Protect Florida Public Schools

Staff |

Tomorrow, February 27th, the massive attack on our states students, teachers, and public schools is up for a vote in its last Senate committee stop.

Last week, the language that would threaten the rights of our teachers to have a voice on the job was removed from the bill. BUT DON’T BE FOOLED, they will try to add union decertification language back to HB 7055, so we must keep up the pressure.

Your calls have flooded the Capitol switchboards, and we must keep them coming during these critical last two weeks of legislative session if we want to defeat this attempt to defund public schools.

Call (855) 235-2469 and enter your zip code NOW to be connected with your state Senator. Leave them with the message that they need to stand up for our public schools, our students, and our teachers by voting NO on HB 7055.

At nearly 200 pages, this massive bill makes almost 60 changes to Florida’s education laws. Many of these changes will divert hundreds of millions of tax dollars to private, for-profit schools, reduces accountability for student performance, and hurts programs for struggling students.

HB 7055 also creates a process that deceptively claims to help victims of bullying in our schools. Rather than focusing on programs that directly combat the problem of bullying in Florida schools, HB 7055 uses this issue as another means to please their donors and expand the unaccountable for-profit private school industry in our state.

Call (855) 235-2469 NOW and leave your state Senator with a message to vote NO on HB 7055. This bill would spell disaster for the future of public education in our state. We need the Florida Senate to say NO to this massive scheme to bully our students, our schools, and our teachers.

🚨LEG ALERT: Tell the Senate to Protect Our Schools

Staff |

Tomorrow, February 20th, the massive attack on our states students, teachers, and public schools is up for a vote in its first Florida Senate committee stop.

After being rushed through the process with little to no public input in the Florida House, now is our chance to stop this poorly vetted bill aimed at defunding public education in our state and silencing our teachers’ voice on the job.

Call (855) 235-2469 and enter your zip code NOW to be connected with your state Senator. Leave them with the message that they need to stand up for our public schools, our students, and our teachers by voting NO on HB 7055.

Hidden in this legislation is the same public union-busting language that House leadership rammed through the process. HB 7055 specifically strips our state’s educators and staff from having a voice on the job.

The bill also creates a process that deceptively claims to help victims of bullying in our schools. Rather than focusing on programs that directly combat the problem of bullying in Florida schools, HB 7055 uses this issue as another means to please their donors and expand the unaccountable for-profit private school industry in our state.

At nearly 200 pages, this massive bill makes almost 60 changes to Florida’s education laws. Many of these changes will divert hundreds of millions of tax dollars to private, for-profit schools, reduces accountability for student performance, and hurts programs for struggling students.

Call (855) 235-2469 NOW and leave your state Senator with a message to vote NO on HB 7055. This bill would spell disaster for the future of public education in our state. We need the Florida Senate to say NO to this massive scheme to bully our students, our schools, and our teachers.

🚨LEG ALERT: FL House to Vote on Union Busting HB 25

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The Florida House has put HB 25 on their agenda for this Wednesday, January 24th.

This means the union busting bill that threatens to wipe out Florida public unions and silence the voices of our states teachers, nurses, bus drivers, and many other public servants from negotiating for fair wages and working conditions, will be voted on by this Thursday, January 25th!

The time to let our state representatives know that workers stand strongly opposed to this toxic anti-union bill is NOW. Call (855) 235-2469 and enter your zip code NOW to be connected with your local state representative.

Too many families across Florida are already living paycheck to paycheck, yet Tallahassee politicians want to try and dismantle their union and make things worse for all of us.

HB 25, would silence our neighbors by taking away their voice through collective bargaining and strip them of their right to choose if they want to be in a union or not.

This bill is unnecessary because in Florida it’s already unlawful to force anyone to join a union. Anyone who uses that excuse is misleading our communities.

Make no mistake, this bill is just an attempt by billionaire CEO backed politicians to make it harder for our public servants to come together to advocate for their on the job needs and negotiate to protect their paychecks.

Call (855) 235-2469 to be connected with your state representative NOW. Leave them with the message that you reject this clear assault on workers’ rights and urge them to vote NO onHB 25.

🚨LEG ALERT: Stop Union Busting HB 25

Staff |

The Florida House is ready to vote on HB 25, the union busting bill that threatens to wipe out Florida public unions and silence the voices of our states teachers, nurses, bus drivers, and many other public servants from negotiating for fair wages and working conditions.

House leadership rammed HB 25 through the early committee process with little to no public input. Now they are racing to bring this terrible bill up for a vote as early as this week.

The time to let our state representatives know that workers stand strongly opposed to this toxic anti-union bill is NOW. Call (855) 235-2469 and enter your zip code NOW to be connected with your local state representative.

Too many families across Florida are already living paycheck to paycheck, yet Tallahassee politicians want to try and dismantle their union and make things worse for all of us.

HB 25, would silence our neighbors by taking away their voice through collective bargaining and strip them of their right to choose if they want to be in a union or not.

This bill is unnecessary because in Florida it’s already unlawful to force anyone to join a union. Anyone who uses that excuse to hurt our community is lying.

Make no mistake, this bill is just an attempt by billionaire CEO backed politicians to make it harder for our public servants to come together to advocate for their on the job needs and negotiate to protect their paychecks.

Call (855) 235-2469 to be connected with your state representative NOW. Leave them with the message that you reject this clear assault on workers’ rights and urge them to vote NO on HB 25.

Unions Ready to Defend Workers, Families in FL Legislature

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This story was written and recorded by Trimmel Gomes of the Public News Service – FL. Click here to visit their page and hear an audio version of the story. 

January 2, 2018

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida’s Republican lawmakers have resurrected, and say they plan to fast-track, legislation from last year to weaken most labor unions in the state.

Rich Templin, legislative and political director of the Florida AFL-CIO, which represents more than 500 labor union locals, says it’s “almost deja vu” as his team prepares to play defense on behalf of workers in the 2018 legislative session.

As an example, he says House Bill 25 would automatically decertify some unions if more than 50 percent of the workers they represent don’t pay dues to the organization.

“That would make it almost impossible for public sector unions to exist, by placing new barriers and hurdles on their ability to represent their workers and collectively bargain on behalf of all workers,” Templin points out.

Similar to last year, Templin predicts the legislation will clear the House, but its future in the Senate is uncertain.

This 60-day lawmaking session starts next Tuesday.

Republican Rep. Scott Plakon says House Bill 25 is about transparency, but Templin says the bill disrupts labor organizations without concern to the industries that the workers represent, including nurses, housekeepers and teachers.

“Legislative leaders, especially in the House, are determined to continue privatizing Florida’s education system, so we’ll be fighting on that,” Templin points out.

Workers on the front lines of some of the most dangerous jobs, such as firefighting and law enforcement, are eligible for what is known as special risk retirement, which includes early retirement.

Templin says another union goal is to get that benefit extended to 911 dispatchers and health care workers in forensic hospitals.

“So, providing care for very dangerous patients who have been committed, either civilly or through the criminal justice system, he explains. “So, we’re looking to give them the opportunity to have special risk retirement. ”

Florida’s once-every-20-year Constitution Revision Commission is also on Templin’s radar, because of a proposal requiring a two-thirds supermajority vote in both legislative chambers before raising taxes or fees or creating new ones.

He argues the state should have the flexibility to fund critical programs as needed.

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