When higher ed unionists in Florida appealed for help to bolster their ranks against political union-busting tactics, UUP was quick to answer the call.

UUP Membership Development Officer Ed Quinn and Stony Brook Chapter President Arty Shertzer traveled to the Sunshine State in mid-April to help the United Faculty of Florida (UFF) recruit new members. A week later, Paul Stasior, an Upstate Medical University Chapter delegate, took five vacation days to head south and sign up new UFF members.

Building up their numbers could be a matter of survival for UFF; Florida Republicans with Tea Party backing have pushed a bill that would decertify unions with less than 50 percent of its collective bargaining unit as members by July 1. The bill, HB 1023, is in committee, but labor leaders fear it could be passed at any time.

The Republican majority in Tallahassee also is behind companion bills to bar unions from automatically deducting dues from an employee’s paycheck and to allow individual union members to call for a unit’s decertification.

While Florida newspapers have reported that Gov. Rick Scott doesn’t have the votes in the current legislative session for the latter bills, union leaders expect the worst— particularly when it comes to HB 1023.

ORGANIZE OR DIE

“They know, that in a practical sense, this is a death penalty for unions,” UFF President Tom Auxter said of HB 1023. “The estimation is that more than half of the education unions in the state could be decertified if this anti-union legislation passes. It may be that we can win a court case in four years to overturn it, but by then, no one may be around to challenge the law.”

“This is an attack and UFF is responding by growing the union,” said Shertzer. “That’s why we went to Florida, to help them fight back.”

Auxter asked unionists for help in recruiting new UFF members at AFT’s national Higher Education Issues Conference in Philadelphia in April. So far, UUP, CUNY, and United College Employees, representing Fashion Institute of Technology employees, have provided aid. Unionists from Alabama have also helped out.

The visits by UUP volunteers have injected momentum into the organizing drive, Auxter said.

“We wouldn’t have this (recruitment) momentum without UUP’s help,” said Auxter. “People are joining the union and they’re cranked up and ready to move.” Quinn and Shertzer spent four days at Tampa’s University of South Florida campus, meeting with faculty and UFF leaders to shore up the union, which represents faculty at 22 public state universities and colleges, and three independent universities.

Stasior spent five days working with UFF union members at the University of Florida, one of eight UFF chapters with less than 50 percent membership. The rest of UFF’s chapters are at or above the threshold, Auxter said.

“I believe that we need union representation,” said Stasior, explaining why he made the trip. “Unions aren’t perfect, but they are necessary because workers need checks and balances with management and they need them with us.”

RIGHT TO WORK

UUPers quickly realized that it’s harder to recruit new unionists in Florida than in New York. Unlike New York, Florida has a right-to-work law. That means that in Florida, workers cannot be compelled to join a union and are not obligated to pay union dues—unless they join the union and agree to pay dues. However, non-union faculty receive the same rights and benefits as union members—gains negotiated by the UFF in its collective bargaining agreement with the state.

“You’ve got to convince them that joining the union is going to be worthwhile, that the union is going to be stronger and be able to do more for membership if its numbers are bigger,” Quinn said.

That was a tough sell because employees already get the same benefits as UFF members without paying union dues, which is 1 percent of their annual salary. Non- union members are also allowed to vote on union-negotiated contracts, Stasior said. “They’re giving (employees) all the rights of being in the union without joining the union,” Stasior said.

GETTING IT AT LAST

Still, Florida faculty members are beginning to understand the importance of being in a union, what with educators in Florida under fire, mainly from Republicans with Tea Party backing. Stasior said he signed up eight people during his trip and had interest from others who he expects will sign up soon.

Quinn said he and Shertzer signed up a handful of employees on the spot; they were carrying union forms, something UFF members weren’t doing on their recruitment outings. Most faculty the pair spoke to were sympathetic to the union’s cause and said they had thought about joining, but weren’t ready to put their name on the dotted line.

“There’s an attitude in Florida that questions the need to join the union,” said Shertzer. “But that’s starting to change because people are beginning to understand that these threats are real.”

UUP-UFF CONNECTION

While in Florida, Quinn and Shertzer shared membership development ideas and issues, and discussed the unions’ MDO recruitment programs. Quinn said UUP will continue to work and share union-building strategies with UFF.

“These are just more attacks against public employee unions and we need to stop them wherever they appear,” Quinn said. “If these efforts succeed, they will affect us too. It is important to defend the rights of our members as well as the rights of all public employees.”

— Michael Lisi