Florida Labor Letter – What a Field Day for the Heat! (Week of 4/2)

Daniel Diaz |

Welcome to another edition of the Florida AFL-CIO’s weekly Florida Labor Letter for the week of 4/2. Before we begin, wishing a happy and safe Easter and Passover holiday to all those practicing, and we extend the same well wishes for those looking forward to the weekend in general as well!

Rocket launches to the moon, war raging abroad inspires nationwide protest, Supreme Court hears case on Citizenship and Voting Rights are disputed in Florida courts. With headlines like these, you wouldn’t be alone in asking “what year is it?” Unfortunately, this letter comes to you after April Fools and this is in fact the present. As Buffalo Springfield timelessly sung “There’s something happening here, and what it is ain’t exactly clear.” Thankfully though, as much as we have seen the incredible persistence of issues and events from decades prior, so too have we seen the endurance and growth of the working class energy to protest and fight for a better future. Let’s get into how that fight takes shape and more below.

🏛️Legislative News: The Wait Continues

The Finish Line Stays Blurry

As has been the routine the last several weeks, the sunshine state’s elected leaders continue to keep the public in the dark as to when they plan to finally reconvene and address the outstanding issues not dealt with this session, such as funding the state, attempting to repeal property tax, and redistricting. This week none of that got much clearer. Instead, we saw weird developments like a house majority member breaking off to push his own property tax campaign, and the Governor at The Villages assuring concerned citizens by stating “hopefully, by the end of April, all the work that the public expects from them will have been completed.” With such inspiring words like that, how could you not be at ease?

Jokes aside, the soonest concrete date we can expect any new information from the Legislature continues to be April 20th, when members are set to reconvene for a special session on the matter of mid-decade redistricting in an attempt to stave off the fury of frustrated and angry voters in November. However after last week’s election results and continued silence from the U.S Supreme Court on a Louisiana case that inspired the special session, even that goal hangs in the balance as the state continues to grapple with the reality that party lines aside: no one is happy with how little has gotten done for working families this past session.

FL SAVE Act Passes… Straight Into Court

As is standard operating procedure for our Governor after sessions conclude (or pause in this case), the executive has been making grand occasion of what little the legislature actually passed with weekly press conferences and signings across the state. This week, he took the tour to Tampa, where he proudly signed the nefarious Florida version of the Federal SAVE Act, which finds itself stalled in the United States Senate. Both bills seek to impose new and burdensome rules on any citizen’s ability to vote, (such as having to re-prove your citizenship) while also raising the standard of proof to be able to meet them such as having to track down your original birth certificate (no matter the situation) or get a passport.

Despite the many issues with the bill and the continued lack of federal appetite in the face of overwhelming opposition by national civil and voting rights groups, Florida’s version weaseled its way through this past session. Floridian’s don’t take such moves lightly though, and as soon as it was signed, the bill was quickly jettisoned into court on the same grounds, where it awaits lengthy adjudication and trial by partners such as the League of Women Voters of Florida, Florida Immigrant Coalition, Common Cause, and more. We’ll keep you updated of any new developments on this case as it moves along and stand proudly in opposition of this attack on Floridian’s ability to hold their elected officials accountable.

🍊Florida Labor News

FL AFL-CIO Welcomes New Central Florida Field Rep: Trevor Sweet!

As you may know, the Florida AFL-CIO has been hard at work securing and training a new qualified and passionate Field Representative for our CLCs in Central Florida following the promotion of prior Field Rep William “Billy” Lawson to his current post as Executive Assistant to the FL AFL-CIO President under President Holdridge! We are happy to finally introduce to you to your New FL AFL-CIO Field Representative for Zone 2, Brother Trevor Sweet!

Trevor joins the FL AFL-CIO family bringing a huge amount of passion and breadth of organizing and labor experience. In his words:

“I was born in Miami and moved to Orlando for both work and school. Disney was my first job and first experience being a part of a union. My organizing experience comes from my time with the Democratic Socialist of America. I’ve had the pleasure of walking picket lines, canvassing, and campaigning for our local unions. In this new role I’m glad I’ll be able to dedicate more time to fight for workers everywhere and build a better world for all of us.“

We are so excited to have Trevor join us, so please welcome him to the team and make sure to say hello wherever you may see him whether at your next Central FL CLC meeting, out on the picket line, or at our COPE Convention later this year!

No King’s Mini-Recap

This last weekend, Floridians everywhere joined millions of workers, activists, and passionate citizens nationwide in participating in the third No King’s Protest and single largest demonstration in U.S History! We lined the capitol, streets, downtowns, and more to protest growing federal abuses of power and authoritarianism, declaring that Florida and these United States will never welcome wannabe kings! ICYMI: You can check out some of the many great photos taken over the weekend in our Facebook post recapping the event.

✊Solidarity Spotlight

South Florida Teamsters Authorize Strike!

Per the International Teamsters:

Workers at UNFI’s Pompano Beach facility voted to join the Teamsters last year to secure higher wages, stronger benefits, and safer working conditions. Since 2022, more than 3,500 UNFI workers have joined the Teamsters, growing the union’s footprint to more than 5,500 members at the company nationwide.

“These workers exercised their legal right to form a union, and UNFI’s attempts to slow walk that process won’t be tolerated,” said Josh Zivalich, President of Local 769. “Management needs to get serious, stop breaking the law, and put a real contract on the table — or they’ll be dealing with the ramifications of a strike.”

We stand in solidarity with our Teamsters brothers and sisters in South Florida fighting for a fair labor contract with UNFI.

🗓️On the Horizon

  • Legislative
    • April 20th – April 24th: Congressional Redistricting Special Session
      • As announced earlier this year, the Governor seeks to convene the legislature back in April for an attempt at redistricting and gerrymandering the state’s congressional districts, despite it not being a census year. Despite a lack of hard enthusiasm by legislators, we will see if the appetite for this issue even pans out as the U.S Supreme Court waits to make the final the decision on Louisiana v. Callais, an important case on the influence of race and party on congressional redistricting, and a budget still lingers unfinished.
  • Nationwide

🛠️Business Board

📸Bonus Bulletin: We Choose to Return to the Moon

(Photo Credits: u/GimmeStarship from the /r/ArtemisProgram subreddit)

Aside from all the noise on the ground, Americans across Florida gathered on Wednesday to look up and see the official liftoff of Artemis II, man’s first lunar expedition to the Moon since Apollo 17 in 1972, from Cape Canaveral. Artemis will be flying by the Moon to collect data and return back to the blue planet over the course of 10 days in order to pave the way for future missions to return to the lunar surface and with any luck, the stars.

Reflecting on a rare view of Earth from space, we leave you this week with the words of Astronomer Carl Sagan:

“It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.”

That concludes this week’s roundup! Thank you for reading and as always, In Solidarity!

Got any tips, actions, or messages you’d like to see in this email?

Please email Daniel Diaz at ddiaz@flaflcio.org

Menu