Florida union membership rose in 2014

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Orlando Sentinel

By Paul Brinkmann

For 2014, there were 455,000 union members, up from 414,000 in 2013, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

But the more interesting statistic is the percentage of the total workforce that are union members, 5.7 percent in 2014, compared to 5.4 percent in 2013.

“We believe it's because there’s a lot of construction in Florida now, and a lot more people moving to Florida now, which means you need more teachers and nurses too,” said DeLane Adams, field communications coordinator for the southern region of the AFL-CIO.

The number of union members and the percentage of union organized workforce had slipped during the recession in Florida.

FULL story at link.

http://www.trbimg.com/img-54cc0cc3/turbine/os-apartment-construction/750/750x422
Paul Brinkmann

Read more: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/brinkmann-on-business/os-florida-union-membership-rose-in-2014-20150130-post.html

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In a purple, right to work (for less) state!!!

[HockeyMom]

1. SEI (Paraprofessionals) Union

While I knew about NEA, I did not know there was a Para Union in Florida. The Union at the time only had a 64%membership rate at school district where I worked. They held a membership drive and got the membership up to 84% by end of the school year. School staff members did most of the recruiting on this.

[DonCoquixote]

2. we need more of this

more more more

[madfloridian]

3. Unfortunately, FL has done away with tenure.

IMO it may be hard to draw good teachers to Florida.

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/Bridging-Differences/2010/03/outrage_in_florida.html

From 2010:

The latest outrage just occurred in Florida, where state legislators passed an extraordinarily stupid piece of legislation. This law abolishes teacher tenure and ties teacher pay to student test scores. In addition, the state will no longer consider either education or experience as factors in teachers' compensation. What teachers earn will depend on their students' test scores.

The economists who floated this bad idea, perhaps as a theoretical exercise, should step up to the plate and take responsibility for what they have wrought. This path devalues education, devalues whatever cannot be measured, and undermines teachers' morale. It may be that high school students, with a few weeks' training, can produce even higher test scores in basic skills than teachers with National Board Certification. If so, we should turn the schools over to anyone with a pulse and forget about professionalism. We may be the first nation in the world with a federal program intended to dumb down our schools and destroy the teaching profession.

http://www.care2.com/causes/florida-abolishes-teacher-tenure.html

Lawmakers in Florida recently voted to abolish teacher tenure in public schools, effectively making it easier to fire teachers deemed incompetent. Although tenure doesn’t actually exist for elementary and secondary teachers in the same way it does for college professors, it provides teachers with some protection from harassment by administrators, school boards and parents, who sometimes target teachers for reasons other than academic ones. It’s not unheard of for a teacher who is politically active, or holds divergent religious or lifestyle views outside of school, to be the subject of campaigns for dismissal that have nothing to do with their job performance.

Tenure, however, is not the only thing Florida plans to toss out with the bath water. Teachers in Florida will no longer be given pay raises based on seniority/experience or their level of education. And seniority will not be considered in times of lay-offs. From now on student’s standardized test scores will be the only measurement from which raises or bonuses are considered, and school districts are free to lay off employes as they see fit.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/7459

From 2011

The Florida House and Senate passed on party-line votes the Republican-sponsored legislation setting up a merit pay plan for teachers, and ending tenure for new hires.

This is the first bill sent to Republican Gov. Rick Scott, who has made the bill a priority and that he will sign it. It’s similar to a bill former governor Charlie Crist vetoed last year, after statewide protests by teachers and their supporters.

The legislation will establish a statewide teacher evaluation and merit pay system by 2014 and get rid of tenure for teachers hired after July 1 this year. Fifty percent of a teacher's evaluation will depend on how much progress their students have made on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test or other exams over a three-year period.

[secondvariety]

4. Didn't know that.

Another nail in the coffin for public education.