The 2nd Edition of “Labor Policy Reform,” just released by the American Legislative Exchange Council lists the legislative progress on how states are expanding worker freedom initiatives.
In detail, the report evaluates policies state by state on issues like Right-to-Work, minimum wage, out-of-state occupational licensing recognition, and more.
Florida’s union involvement is smaller compared to other states.
Florida is a Right-to-Work State. ALEC ranks the Sunshine State 27th on public sector union membership and 46th on private sector union membership.
The report shows that in 2022, 239,000 of Florida’s 1,104,209 public sector workers were union members, a membership rate of 21.7%. ALEC highlights legislation passed from last year that moves to improve Florida’s Right -To-Work status.
In 2023, the Florida Legislature passed a bill dealing with employee organizations representing public employees. It would require a public employee who desires to be a member of an employee organization to sign a membership authorization form beginning on a specified date; requiring an employee organization to revoke a public employee’s membership upon receipt of his or her written request for revocation; prohibiting certain employee organizations from having dues and uniform assessments deducted and collected by the employer from certain salaries; revising requirements for applications for initial registrations and renewals of registration of employee organizations; revising prohibitions for employee organizations and certain persons and entities relating to employee organizations, etc.
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the legislation.
Instead of focusing on Washington D.C., ALEC suggests that the states should be the main focus as they have significant control over their individual labor landscapes.
ALEC economist Jonathan Williams says the tide has been moving in the right direction with employment and jobs as more are enacting free market policies instead of relying on labor unions.
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