Miami Herald

Proposed bills place burden on educators

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Over the past year, educators in Florida have been working overtime to support our students in incredibly difficult conditions. However, the Florida Legislatur­e is responding by attacking our educators and attempting to limit our rights.

If passed, Senate Bill

1014 and House Bill 835 will undermine the freedom of Florida educators to choose when they join or leave a union. These bills seek to impose government involvemen­t where it isn’t needed.

These bills are solutions in search of a problem.

All educators have the right to join or leave a labor union whenever they wish.

The proposed bills would require employers to hire additional staff to process the added paperwork. The sponsors of these proposed bills have not accounted for the added costs. There is no evidence these bills would produce any benefit that is worth the burdensome and unnecessar­y problems they would impose on Florida’s educators and schools.

If these bills were actually about protecting public sector workers, they would apply to all public workers. However, these bills only apply to educators.

As educators, we know we have gone above andbeyond this year to ensure our students’ needs are met. It is shameful that in response, we are facing divisive attacks from lawmakers who are trying to limit our rights to privacy and our freedom of associatio­n.

– Deandre Poole,

president, United Faculty of Florida,

Florida Atlantic University chapter,

Boca Raton

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