Florida dissolves Clearwater city workers union for failing to meet deadline

The union representing nearly 900 city of Clearwater employees has been dissolved after it failed to meet the registration requirements of a controversial new state law.

The law, which took effect July 1, says public sector unions must enroll at least 60% of eligible employees. Local governments may no longer deduct monthly dues from paychecks, forcing unions to reenroll existing members in a new payment system and recruit any additional workers needed to meet the threshold.

Unions with less than 60% dues-paying members are required to petition the Public Employees Relations Commission within one month of their renewal date. Then an election can be held, and a majority of bargaining unit members must vote in favor of continued representation.

With less than 60% membership, Clearwater’s union, Communication Workers of America local 3179, was required to submit its petition to start that process by Jan. 22 but did not do so until March 4, according to an order from the state. The state commission decertified the union on Tuesday for missing the deadline, noting it has 30 days to appeal.

The Clearwater union represented workers across city departments like public works, parks and recreation and gas. It led contract negotiations for wages and benefits and represented employees in disciplinary issues.

Labor activists have criticized the new law as attempt to dismantle worker protections.

In the Clearwater case, union leaders argued they had received an extension to file renewal documents, but the order states that was only more time for the financial statement submission.

“It was dropped on us as a bombshell and we’ll be meeting with upper management tomorrow to find out what direction we’ll be moving in,” said union vice president Mike Head.

In November, the City Council approved a three-year contract for union employees that included an 8% merit pay increase for the first year, with negotiations to reopen for increases in 2025 and 2026.

While the new rules and implications are being interpreted statewide, City Manager Jennifer Poirrier said her understanding is that the decertification has voided the contract terms. Negotiations for 2025 terms that had been scheduled for May 23 have been canceled. But Poirrier said the city has no immediate intentions to make changes to wages or benefits.

Earlier this year, the city implemented a wage increase to fill vacancies and keep workers from fleeing to better paying governments, and she said administration is committed to being fair with or without a union.

“I want our employees to feel secure they are not going to get pay cuts as a result of the contract being decertified, that’s not being contemplated,” Poirrier said. “But now what? That’s the part we don’t know yet.”

The law, and the rules enforcing it have thrown tens of thousands of workers into chaos, said Rich Templin, director of politics and public policy for AFL-CIO Florida, a federation of labor unions.

A February investigation by WLRN found more than 42,000 public sector employees have lost their collective bargaining rights due to decertification. But Templin said the full impact is not yet clear. Some of those unions are in the midst of appeal and petitions for recertification.

In a statement last year, DeSantis said the law was “ushering in a new era of accountability to the people.”

But it exempts police, firefighters and correctional officers, leading many to criticize it as a politically-driven union buster for groups not aligned with the governor’s agenda.

In an email, DeSantis’ deputy press secretary Julia Friedland said the legislation “reins in out-of-control unions,” requires unions to notify members of membership costs, enforces financial disclosures and offers other protections.

Stephen Simon, a city of Tampa wastewater treatment plant operator and president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1464, said his union just received its recertification after meeting the 60% threshold. But it took hustling and groundwork to get employees motivated.

Simon set up information tables in parks and used social media. He said it was a huge burden to not only recruit new members but reenroll existing members into a new payment system.

Because Florida is a right-to-work state, eligible employees in the past received contract benefits negotiated by their unions even if they were not dues-paying members. Simon said this meant he had to stress that all employees would lose those protections if at least 60% of employees did not enroll.

It has not been so easy in Clearwater. Communications Workers of America representatives from across the state came to the city last year to encourage employees to sign up for the union. Warren Brown, a steward in local 3108 in Orlando, said he saw Clearwater employees reluctant to join because they felt the union leadership was not visible and accessible enough to employees.

“A lot of them saw the benefits and the value of the union but they didn’t like how their union was being run,” Brown said.

Union president Ron Rice did not respond to requests for comment.

Jerry McCarthy, a lead technician with Clearwater Gas System, said he became a union steward last year to help motivate colleagues. He said he ran into problems communicating with the union’s leadership when employees needed to talk about representation for disciplinary issues and other questions.

He said the dynamic made it difficult to recruit members to meet the 60% threshold and pay dues equal to one hour of wages per month. According to McCarthy, the union had a 36% membership when it was decertified.

But McCarthy said he’s optimistic that Clearwater leadership will work to be fair with employees, especially as the city attempts to retain and attract employees.

“I think the city is going to do their best to try to fill the void of not having a union representative to talk to because they still have to keep a workforce intact,” McCarthy said. “If employees aren’t happy, they end up leaving and they don’t want that.”