Republican Attempts to Weaken Unions Continue in Florida

A bill that will prohibit payroll deductions of union dues for public workers is moving through the State Senate and the House here in Florida. The legislation also requires union members to approve the use of dues for political purposes on a yearly basis. Given the fact that the Republicans own the State Senate, the House, and the Governor's King's Mansion, this legislation is sure to pass swiftly - taking away some political power here for unions. That's exactly the plan, of course.

Chris Dorworth (R-Lake Wales) is the sponsor of the legislation -

Dorworth said he doesn't believe governments should be in the business of handling payroll deductions for union dues. That can be taken care of by private vendors, he said. And the written approval for political expenditures, he said, gives individual union members control over how their money is spent.

And the most important question?

"How many jobs is it going to create? How is it going to reduce our deficit? What is the public good that's going to be served by this bill?" asked Franklin Sands, a Democrat from Weston who earned applause for calling Dorworth's proposal a "union busting" bill.

House Democratic leaders Ron Saunders from Key West pledged to make a stink about the politics at play when the bill comes up for debate on the House floor. "Why are we here on a bill that is supposedly to protect union members and not a single union member has spoken in support of it?" Saunders said. "I don't see the reason for this bill."

This legislation won't create jobs. Union members do not support it. The sole purpose of the legislation is to weaken union political power because union members tend to vote for Democrats instead of Republicans.

There are more than 1.1 million unemployed Floridians right now. We have an unemployment rate over 12%, but Republicans are focused on doing the biggest damage to their political opponents - teachers, police officers, fire-fighters, and all of the other public workers who are union members. Don't accuse Republicans of having the wrong priorities though - because in their mind, they absolutely have the right priorities - themselves.