TALLAHASSEE — Teachers and most other government workers will have to write monthly checks if they want to stay in their union after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill Tuesday banning automatic dues deductions from public employees’ paychecks.
The bill also gives employees the right to immediately quit a union for no reason and requires unions to recertify if the number of dues-paying members drops below 60% of those eligible to join.
“If you want to join, you can, but you write a check and you hand it over. That is gonna lead to more take-home pay for teachers,” DeSantis said at a bill-signing ceremony in Miami.
It was one of several bills that DeSantis signed that affect education, including new term limits for school board members, restrictions on student social media use and protections for teachers who report administrators they believe are violating state education policies.
While DeSantis touted the bills as giving more freedom to teachers, the Florida Education Association disputed that by saying the actions were punishment for opposing his policies, similar to the way DeSantis has used his office to seek retribution on others who disagree with him.
“The governor may have let his desire to crush perceived opponents get the best of him,” teachers union President Andrew Spar said in a news release. “This new law grossly oversteps in trying to silence teachers, staff, professors and most other public employees. We will not go quietly — our students and our professions...
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