Union Reforms Moving Through Legislature
TALLAHASSEE (CBS4) - The latest attempt by a state legislature to take away the political clout unions hold is moving through the Florida Legislature.
The Florida House Appropriations Committee sent a bill to the floor that would ban the state from collecting union dues and limit the use of those dues for political purposes, according to the News Service of Florida.
The bill, passed along a primarily party line vote (two Republicans voted against it), would require unions to get written authorization from union members in order to use union dues for political purposes.
Unions typically back Democratic causes and candidates. If the unions had to have permission from each and every member to use money to lobby against things like ending teacher tenure and lowering unemployment compensation, it might make union political activity too difficult to perform.
"It has nothing to do with government getting out of the business of collecting union dues," Dwight Mattingly, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1577 told the News Service of Florida. "It has to do with union-busting."
Other opponents said the measure was contrary to the Republicans' belief in small-government and keeping the government out of people's lives.
"That's what you're deciding on today – about whether or not you want to inject yourself into the individual, private decisions that employees make about their money," Florida Education Association lobbyist Kevin Wilson told the News Service of Florida.
A similar bill is moving through the Florida Senate. It's currently awaiting a hearing in the Senate Budget Committee.
(© 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The News Service of Florida contributed to this report.)
