MIAMI – AFSCME members who serve the City of Dania Beach in South Florida are heading into uncertain times on strong footing.
Just ask Willis Washington, president of Local 3535 (AFSCME Florida).
Washington and his fellow members ratified a new three-year contract earlier this month. It gives the workers a minimum 6% cost of living adjustment as well as annual pay raises of at least 4%. Also, the pay for the lowest and highest steps in each grade will rise by 20% to make up for a history of low wages.
Now for the uncertain part.
With this new contract, the 106-member-strong local has to abide by the mandates of SB256, an anti-union law rammed through the Florida Legislature by Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2023. The law requires at least 60% of a bargaining unit to be dues-paying union members to avoid recertification elections every year.
There was some concern about Local 3535 members’ ability to survive a recertification election. But that fear proved unfounded. Washington and other leaders won enough support for recertification while working with members to fight for a fair contract.
“Over the years we have made sure that the contributions we make to this part of the Sunshine State are well known and, more importantly, we have shown that we are a united team when it comes to the issues we are facing on the job,” said Washington, a lead utility worker for the city.
“It really helped for the members to see that this union is not just fighting to help them make ends meet but to get ahead in a part of the country that is facing extreme income inequality challenges,” he added.
This solidarity and a couple of other provisions in the contract “made us ready for first fight with SB256,” Washington said.
Under the union-busting law, dues deduction is banned. So unions have to switch their members from payroll dues deduction to electronic dues payment. The law also imposes costly financial audit rules and more paperwork requirements on local union officers and individual members.
Soon after voting on their new contract, Local 3535 members voted unanimously to recertify their union. They are transitioning their dues from paycheck deduction to the secure UPAY system.
This marks the latest in a long line of recertification election victories in Florida. AFSCME members have voted yes in 21 of 23 recertification elections over the past two years, reinforcing that SB256 has failed in its union-busting goal.