Florida teachers’ union faces decertification under new state law

The United Teachers of Dade is facing decertification after failing to recruit 60% of Miami-Dade educators to its union.

Last summer, a new Florida law passed that required unions to maintain the 60% threshold to be certified. Without certification, unions can’t participate in bargaining as the exclusive representative of employees.

However, the United Teachers of Dade (UTD) fell below the requirement and even reportedly harassed teachers in a desperate attempt to boost its numbers.  

Now that the deadline has passed, UTD faces decertification – and policy experts say its left-wing agenda is to blame. 

“If United Teachers of Dade spent half as much time paying attention to their members’ interests as they have been pushing a political agenda with Randi Weingarten and running for office with Charlie Crist, they probably wouldn’t even be in this position,” said Allison Beattie, director of labor relations at the Freedom Foundation.  

Democrat Charlie Crist unsuccessfully ran for governor of Florida in 2022, losing to Republican incumbent Ron DeSantis. Crist’s running mate was Karla Hernández-Mats, president of UTD and vice president of the national union, American Federation for Teachers (AFT).  

“Now, they’ve [UTD] spent the last few months scrambling to get their unsatisfied customers back, and they couldn’t do it,” Beattie continued. “They knew if union members were given the opportunity to choose where to spend their money, it would probably go toward groceries and gas, rather than enriching the union leadership and funding their pet projects.”  

While UTD is quickly losing traction, an alternative – the Miami-Dade Educators Coalition (MDEC) – is gaining popularity.  

MDEC pledged to be different from UTD in a variety of ways – including lower dues, limited terms for leadership and no partisan political activity.  

Unlike UTD, it’s not affiliated with the AFT, Florida Education Association, or National Education Association.