Tallahassee, FL – Well over 1000 educators, school bus drivers, custodians, counselors and other public school workers, dressed in red, rallied at the Old Capitol Building in Tallahassee on January 13 to demand lawmakers invest in public schools during the 2020 state legislative session. The 60-day legislative session begins January 14 and lawmakers will have a sea of red from the previous day to take with them to deliberation.

The rally was organized by the Florida Education Association (FEA), which is the statewide union for educators, and featured support also from the national unions the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association.

The demands followed the Fund Our Future Florida campaign, which was announced during the October 2019 Florida Education Delegate Assembly. The Fund Our Future Campaign is regarded as “The Decade of Education,” since it is a ten-year program with long term goals to lift Florida out of the bottom 10% in the nation for educational performance, as well as lift the state from 46th in the nation for teacher pay. The Decade of Education requires an immediate down payment from lawmakers, in the form of 10% raises for all public school employees.

Governor Ron DeSantis proposed a $600 million budget to go towards salary raises for new teachers. The Fund Our Future program challenges that and is demanding a $2.4 billion investment from lawmakers to grant raises to all employees, which would include not only new hires, but veteran teachers, counselors, bus drivers, cafeteria workers, custodians, etc.

In solidarity with Florida public school employees at the state capitol rally were faith leaders such as Al Sharpton, political leaders such as Republican and Democratic Caucus representatives, student organizations such as Students for a Democratic Society and the student president of the FEA, English Language Learner educators (ELL) and special needs educators, and union leaders from other states.

Some teachers were threatened by their district if they attended the rally. Polk County educators were told that if they took off, it would be considered a strike, which is illegal, and would cost them their job. Several Polk County employees were in attendance despite the threat, and they received an abundance of support from the statewide and national unions.

Jesse Sharkey, the Chicago Teacher’s Union president, came to the Sunshine State to speak about what it takes to not only organize, but to win. His words resonated strongly as he asked Floridians why it is not more common that we organize. He asked the crowd of angry, tired, but hopeful educators if Florida will keep building after the rally and reminded the crowd that strong unions are the tool to victory.

While a 10% raise is not enough to begin to fix the issues the Florida Public School systems face, the display of solidarity and willingness to organize, despite threats of job loss in some districts, is of much greater value in this struggle. As Chicago Teacher’s Union President Jesse Sharkey said, it is only the beginning. We must continue to strengthen unions and use them to fight back.

#TallahasseeFL #PeoplesStruggles #teachers #PublicSectorUnions #FloridaEducationAssociation #TeachersUnions #FundOurFuture

37% of registered delegates were people of color. Duval Teachers United (DTU) and United Teachers of Dade (UTD) were the only counties with an African American and Latin American/Latino majority at the assembly.

The Delegate Assembly is the highest decision-making body for Florida teachers. This year, it introduced a new leadership board as well as a new statewide political campaign for Florida teacher unions. The new leadership board consisted of Fedrick C. Ingram, president; Andrew Spar, vice president, and Carole Gauronskas, secretary-treasurer. Fedrick “Fed” Ingram, an African American music teacher and former president of the United Teachers of Dade union, had an energy that many commented was much needed.

“I almost didn’t come because of our last leadership, but I’m glad I did. This is more the way things should be. We should be talking about how to unite as teachers,” a delegate from Escambia County commented.

“Our last leadership seemed more interested in campaigning for Clinton than for educators. You can’t hold an assembly spending time telling us everything that we already know is wrong with the education system, then further divide us with political campaigns, and then follow up without any solutions where we can unite. How are we supposed to feel about that? Party lines are one thing, but it seemed like our needs as teachers were being ignored,” a Duval County delegate remarked.

The call for Florida unions to come together was not just hyperbolic; it was to announce a political action. The FEA announced the launch of the Florida Fund our Future Campaign. The plan proposes A Decade of Progress, which is a ten-year investment of $22 billion in education funding through 2030, with a down payment from lawmakers in 2020 of $2.4 billion for 10% pay increases for every public school employee across the state of Florida.

This demand comes on the heels of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s proposal to invest $600 million to new hire teacher raises. The governor’s proposal is wildly unpopular as it only specifies new hires, not veteran teachers, no paraprofessionals and no social workers. The $2.4 billion the FEA is demanding would include all public school employees, rookie and veteran educators, including paraprofessionals and also social workers, bus drivers, cafeteria workers, custodians, librarians, secretaries etc. As it stands right now, Florida is 46th in the nation in teacher pay, more than $12,000 behind the national average.

The first call to action for the Fund Our Future campaign is for educators to meet in Tallahassee on January 13, 2020, the day before the legislative session. While overall, most are pleased to finally see some action, some educators still would like to see things taken a step further.

“We need to strike,” a Broward County educator expressed, plainly. “Our dues have risen, but we know it’s not going towards a strike fund. What do we do if lawmakers continue to ignore our demands? This idea is definitely a push in the right direction, but what’s at stake exactly? What’s stopping lawmakers from ignoring us like they already are?”

The threat of strikes being illegal for teachers has since been shattered by West Virginia and a string of other teacher strikes across the nation. As Florida sinks further towards the bottom in the nation for public education, and as teachers face more and more obstacles daily, the question remains: Will teachers continue to silently leave the profession in the mass exodus we are currently experiencing, or will the unions take the risks involved to organize a credible strike threat?

#OrlandoFL #PeoplesStruggles #FloridaEducationAssociation #TeachersUnions

Orlando, FL – The Florida Education Association (FEA) held their 2011 Delegate Assembly Oct. 27-29 at the Rosen Centre Hotel of Orlando, Florida, with the theme of “We Are One – Union Strong.” The event opened with the famous IWW Solidarity Forever union song and was attended by more than 600 delegates from all over the state of Florida.

University of Florida Graduate Assistants United's Chief Steward and Co-Bargaining Chair, José “Beto” Soto and Graham Picklesimer, respectively, were present to lobby and talk to FEA delegates about the recent cuts to the New Membership Rebates, a program designed to incentivize recruitment. According to Mr. Picklesimer, “this program disproportionally affected GAU, given their high turnover rates of graduating students with really low wages.”

Recording Secretary José Soto and Alachua County Educators Association President Karen McCann represented the North Central Florida Central Labor Council. Mr. Soto invited FEA delegates to the upcoming Fight Back Florida conference in Orlando, on Nov. 5 at the Painters Hall.

The FEA Delegate Assembly concluded on Oct. 29, with a heartwarming speech by Sen. Nelson condemning the recent incident involving Volusia County teacher Jill Cicciarelli. The teacher faces thousands of dollars in fines for pre-registering high school students to vote. The senator called the new Florida voter registration laws “anti-democratic.”

*Fernando Figueroa is a member of Gainesville SDS*

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