Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) said it anticipates a “seamless transition” following the decertification of its union by Florida’s Public Employees Relations Committee (PERC), but the state has yet to rule on the decertification.  

GRU’s union falls under the Communication Workers of America (CWA) #3170, and Jenn Powell, organizer for the local branch, called the letter ridiculous. The union hasn’t been decertified, and she believes the union will remain under the CWA moving forward—even as it struggles with new state requirements. 

Late last week, GRU General Manager Ed Bielarski sent an email to assure employees during the transition, saying the union would be decertified on Monday. In a follow-up email, Bielarski corrected the statement and eliminated any date of decertification. 

“In the event that a state law passed last year may jeopardize our collective bargaining agreement with the CWA, GRU wants all of our employees to be assured that our primary goal is to make sure this is a seamless event for all employees and that all are compensated fairly,” Bielarski said.  

CWA #3170 represents and negotiates for the GRU union along with three other unions—city of Gainesville employees, Alachua County Library District employees and Gainesville Housing Authority employees.  

Powell said her phone has rung nonstop since the emails. She said none of the four union units represented by the CWA were decertified on Monday—though three of the four will likely receive a decertification letter soon.  

“We’re still here,” Powell said. “We’re not going anywhere. We’ve moved on to the second step.” 

Powell said all four unions submitted their recertification paperwork on Monday, but only the Alachua County Library District employees reached the 60% threshold needed to remain certified. 

The threshold, added into state law last year, requires 60% of employees to be members of the union in order to remain certified. The union must validate that number annually. The law also prevents unions from collecting dues through payrolls, but the law exempts first responder unions like police and fire from the new changes.  

Powell said the unions for GRU and the city of Gainesville workers hovered around the 20% mark in the paperwork sent to PERC. Before changes to the state law last year, Powell said the unions sat around 40%. 

“We’re just trying to do damage control, trying to get out there and talk to people, trying to get our stewards having conversations, making sure they have the correct info,” Powell said. 

Despite failing to meet the threshold, Powell said the CWA still represents the unions until it receives a letter from PERC that announces the decertification. Even after getting the letter, the decertification isn’t automatic, she said the CWA will have a time frame to get designation of representation cards (DORs) from 30% of the union employees.  

These DORs will be submitted to PERC and authorize an election for employees to vote on establishing a union. In the election, each union only needs 50% plus one to create, or keep, a union.  

Powell said it was “completely odd” that the state would require 30% of employees to set an election, 50% plus 1 of the voting employees to pass an election, but 60% of employees paying union dues to recertify annually.  

She said when the CWA realized it wouldn’t hit the 60% threshold, it switched gears to collected the DORs. The city of Gainesville employees have already submitted more than the 30% requirement.  

Powell said when PERC sends the notice of decertification, the CWA will be able to immediately submit the DORs to continue representing the union until the election. If the election is successful, then the union will continue until the annual recertification process—requiring the 60% threshold.  

The CWA is gathering DORs from the other unions as well to be prepared as soon as the notice from PERC arrives. So, the CWA could be representing the unions and employees for months to come.  

“We’ll keep doing it as long as we can—until we can get it reversed,” Powell said. “That’s the main goal, trying to get that law reversed.” 

Powell said the new state law could leave the CWA constantly seesawing between decertification and elections depending on the number of employees who want to join. She hopes this first year is a blip as employees get used to the new system, not getting union dues taken out of the payroll, and get educated on the changes.  

The Bielarski email noted that GRU’s policy already covers 21 articles found in the union contract. Another six articles from the union contracts were condensed into three new guidelines effective Monday, the same day as the anticipated decertification. 

Powell hopes GRU placing the negotiated rights into its policy gives the union more negotiating power in the future. She noted the difference between policies and a union contract. The power of a contract is that it’s a legally binding document that lasts for three years. GRU policy can change tomorrow, Powell noted.  

Depending on the outcome of the DORs and an election to form the union, the CWA could keep some unions and losing others. But Powell said the union workers will keep collecting signatures to form the unions for as long as possible.  

Powell said other unions in the state have simply stopped after failing to hit the 60% threshold, allowing Florida legislators to accomplish the goal of destroying the public sector unions.