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In 1974, following a vote of the 12,000 educators then working for the Dade County School District, a newly minted United Teachers of Dade (UTD) was handed a monopoly by the state of Florida to provide exclusive representation services for all those in its bargaining unit.
If you’re scoring at home, that marks the first and last time the teachers – of whom there are currently more than 30,000 – were allowed a say in the matter. During that span, the union has outlasted four popes, nine Supreme Court justices, and countless world monarchs and dictators given a similar lifetime appointment.
Because Florida is a right-to-work state, where union participation can’t be compelled, it’s hardly surprising that UTD – completely unaccountable as it is to the district, students, parents, the community, or even the teachers who created and sustain it – has seen its dues-paying membership whittled down to just over half of those eligible for it.