TALLAHASSEE - Florida's teachers union got a dose of what its leaders call political payback from Republicans on Tuesday when a Senate committee approved a bill that would ban using dues collected from its members through employee payroll deduction for political purposes.
Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, the bill's sponsor, argued that teachers should have more choice in determining how their payroll deductions are spent.
''When dues are taken out of their paychecks, they don't have a choice of where their money is going to go as far as political candidates and campaigns,'' Fasano said.
This is only a first step for Fasano, who has to take his bill to several more committees before it reaches the Senate floor.
Supporters of the bill argued that the state's looming teacher shortage and the existence of only one teachers union in the state make the bill essential for the Florida Education Association -- and not other labor organizations.
The FEA has been criticized for its close alliance with the state's Democratic Party. The union poured more than $3 million into a campaign to oust Gov. Jeb Bush in favor of Bill McBride during the 2002 gubernatorial campaign.
Maureen Dinnen, president of the FEA, said Fasano's bill was Republican revenge for the union's support of McBride and other Democrats.
''It is a boldface political retribution because we chose to back a candidate that we thought was going to help quality education,'' Dinnen said. ``It is saying the teachers of Florida should have no voice in the political world of the state of Florida.''
Teachers who disagree with the union don't have to join, Dinnen said, because Florida is a right-to-work state where union membership is voluntary.
Dinnen said she left messages for Bush and Lt. Gov. Toni Jennings on Monday but did not receive a call back by Tuesday morning's Senate hearing.
The Senate Governmental Operations and Productivity Committee cast votes for the bill on strictly partisan lines. All of the Republican committee members supported the bill; the three Democrats present opposed it.
FOR BETTER PAY
''Why aren't we here talking about getting better pay for teachers so we won't have this doggone shortage in our state instead of spending our time discriminating against one segment of the community because of political reasons?'' asked Sen. Les Miller, D-Tampa. ``This is wrong. This is ugly.''
Sen. Alfred Lawson Jr., D-Tallahassee, questioned the fairness of the bill in specifically targeting teachers unions and not other labor organizations.
But Fasano argued that he received e-mails from several teachers who expressed misgivings about the current system of dues. Fasano read one from a teacher who said the FEA had been deceptive to members during the 2002 campaign.
The teacher also questioned whether the FEA remortgaged its headquarters building to raise funds for McBride's political campaign.
`IT WAS A LIE'
''What he's saying is unfounded information,'' Dinnen said.
``It was a lie. We did not remortgage for the political campaign.''
She explained that when the FEA merged from two unions into one in 2000, the union took out a mortgage to move to a single financial institution.
Critics of the teachers union on Tuesday charged that nearly 80 percent of fees go to non-workplace-related issues, a charge that Dinnen said was ``absolutely false.''
''We support professional development and a whole range of issues that have nothing to do with politics,'' Dinnen said.
``Political action or government relations is one of the particular departments within our union.''
This isn't the first time that teachers' dues have become an issue.
In 2001, former state Education Commissioner Charlie Crist threatened to withhold state funding from school districts that deduct union dues -- a portion of which is often used to support union-friendly political candidates -- from teachers' paychecks.
Former Attorney General Bob Butterworth then said school districts aren't breaking the law by deducting union dues from teachers' paychecks.
