©2024 The News Service of Florida
A Florida A&M University faculty union is seeking a temporary injunction to prevent the state from requiring an election to determine whether the union will continue representing members. The United Faculty of Florida and James Muchovej, a union member, filed a motion this week for an injunction as part of a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of changes that Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Legislature have approved during the past two years placing additional restrictions on public-employee unions. The lawsuit, filed in August in Leon County circuit court, centers on part of a 2023 law that requires unions to be recertified as bargaining agents if fewer than 60 percent of eligible employees had paid dues. Unions that do not meet the 60 percent thresholds have to go through a process that includes holding elections to try to get recertified. The lawsuit and the motion for temporary injunction said the Florida A&M chapter of the United Faculty of Florida in April reported that 56.6 percent of employees in its bargaining unit were dues-paying members, below the threshold. In August, the state Public Employees Relations Commission said an election needed to be held to determine whether the union would continue to be certified to represent members. The lawsuit contends the 60 percent threshold violates constitutional collective-bargaining rights, and the motion seeks an injunction against holding an election while the lawsuit plays out. “Here, PERC (the Public Employees Relations Commission) seeks to schedule and administer a decertification election that will, in all likelihood, be held unconstitutional by the end of this litigation,” the motion said. “Thus, PERC would have employees in the UFF-FAMU unit vote on whether they want to continue to be represented by UFF, only to be told a little later that their vote was of no force and effect, leaving the parties to try to undo the impact of that vote.” The case is assigned to Circuit Judge Jonathan Sjostrom.
