Duval teachers’ union falls short of 60% threshold, faces recertification vote

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Duval Teachers United will head to a recertification election after falling short of the 60% membership threshold required under state law.

Union President Tammie Brooks-Evans said the union finished with 57.3% membership among teachers, 52.3% among paraprofessionals and 44.2% among employees represented by the United Office Personnel of Duval.

The union had been working to recruit members before the deadline. Brooks-Evans said DTU added 100 teachers, 17 paraprofessionals and 13 UOPD employees during the final week, but those additions were not enough to bring any of the three groups above 60%.

The race to add more members comes after a new state law that requires most public sector unions to maintain at least 60% membership. Unions that fall below that threshold must go through a recertification election.

Brooks-Evans said the next challenge will be getting at least 50% of the employees in each bargaining unit to cast a ballot in that election.

She said the process takes time, money, and attention away from the union’s work representing employees. She also expressed concern about relying on current mailing addresses and the mail system to deliver and return ballots.

“That is a bigger challenge because we have such a hard time getting people to just update their mailing addresses, and then we’re counting on the U.S. mail to get them to their homes and then get them back to Tallahassee,” Brooks-Evans said.

Before the deadline, she said the union’s goal was not just to reach the state’s minimum requirement, but to move beyond it and avoid repeating the process.

“For us, we want to get ourselves beyond 60% so we can get off this hamster wheel,” Brooks-Evans said.