SB 1296 Would Require Unions to Earn Majority Support Before Claiming Exclusive Representation

Tallahassee, FL— The Freedom Foundation today urged Florida lawmakers to pass SB 1296, legislation that would close a longstanding gap in union accountability by requiring public-sector unions to earn majority support from the employees they seek to represent before being granted exclusive bargaining authority.  

A companion bill is currently moving through the Florida House. 

Under current law, a union can win certification — and with it, the sole legal right to speak for every employee in a bargaining unit — through a simple majority of ballots cast, even when only a small fraction of the workforce participates in voting. SB 1296 would change that by requiring unions to earn support from at least 50 percent of the entire bargaining unit. 

The need for this reform became clear after SB 256 passed in 2023. That law required unions to maintain 60 percent dues-paying membership or stand for election.  

Several unions representing more than 70,000 Florida employees were decertified for lack of support. Even among unions that survived, many prevailed with backing from less than 30 percent of their bargaining unit.  

In some cases, as few as 1 percent of the workers a union legally represented had actually voted for it. 

“Florida already proved that when you hold unions accountable to the workers they claim to speak for, many can’t clear even a basic threshold of support,” said Aaron Withe, CEO of the Freedom Foundation. “SB 1296 closes the remaining loophole. If a union is going to hold exclusive legal authority over every employee in a bargaining unit, it should at least be able to say that a majority of those employees actually chose them. That’s not a high bar. That’s just democracy.” 

The bill also limits taxpayer-funded paid leave for union activities to legitimate representational work — contract negotiations and grievance proceedings — rather than lobbying, political campaigning, or member recruitment.  

Employees who wish to engage in those activities may do so using unpaid leave, their own accrued PTO, or voluntarily pooled PTO from colleagues.