The Transport Workers Union of America recently won a court victory in Florida after a judge dismissed a challenge from the Florida Attorney General’s Office seeking to include transit workers in a draconian state law that violates collective bargaining rights.
A U.S. district judge rejected a lawsuit filed by Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody alleging that federal transit worker protections – known as 13c protections – were unconstitutional.
The Department of Labor found that these transit worker protections, which have existed for decades, would have prevented Florida transit agencies from seeking federal funding if the anti-union provisions of a 2023 state law were enforced.
“Federal transit worker protections have strong bipartisan support and the court ruling underscores the fact that anti-labor and right-to-work states like Florida cannot undermine worker protections that have existed for decades in their quest to do the bidding of corporate executives,” TWU International President John Samuelsen said. “The TWU will continue to fight any attempts to gut federal protections for transit workers.”
The Florida law, known as Senate Bill 256 and now in effect for other public employees, prohibits workers from voluntarily having union dues deducted from their paychecks and requires unions to be recertified every year if fewer than 60 percent of eligible workers pay dues.
The Department of Labor found that these provisions specifically were at odds with federal protections requiring the preservation of collective bargaining rights and agreements if transit agencies accept federal funding. The Florida legislature acknowledged this fact by allowing transit agencies to be exempt from the law.
The court found that the federal government’s authority to protect collective bargaining rights for transit workers using 13c protections is clear and constitutional. This ruling means that Florida transit agencies will be able to continue accessing federal funding only so long as they maintain an exemption from the anti-union state law.
“This is a big win for TWU members in Florida and for federal transit worker protections across the country,” said TWU International Executive Vice President Alex Garcia. “Efforts to gut 13c will no doubt continue, but the court decision is a warning against future attempts.”
The TWU represents more than 155,000 workers across the airline, railroad, transit, universities, utilities and service sectors. The TWU is the largest airline workers union in the United States.
