Write Your Local Newspaper: Stand up for Florida’s Public Workers

Write your local newspaper and tell your community about the real retirement security threat to Florida’s Firefighters, teachers, police officers, nurses and state employees face.

Retirement plans for state and local government workers affect millions of Floridians and boost the state economy.  These plans directly impact about 1.2 million current and former public employees in Florida and millions of their dependents and other family members.  In addition, tens of thousands of Florida’s businesses benefit each day when retirees spend their retirement checks on goods and services in every community in Florida. These vital benefits are provided through the Florida Retirement System and almost 500 local government retirement plans.

CLICK HERE to write a letter to your local newspaper about the importance of a secure retirement for Florida’s workers!

Posted in A Secure Retirement, Campaigns, Preserving Essential Collective Bargaining Rights |

Victory! Senate Defeats Prison Privatization 21-19

Yesterday, the Florida Senate rejected SB 2038, Gov. Rick Scott’s prison privatization scheme. The victory was the clear result of an outpouring of public support for correctional officers and prison workers along with disgust over private prison contractors’ attempts to subvert our democracy.

Opposition to the privatization scheme was heavily bipartisan – with nine Republicans joining with all twelve Democrats in voting against SB 2038.

Here’s the final vote breakdown:

Posted in A Fair Budget, Good Jobs, Preserving Essential Collective Bargaining Rights |

Prison Privatization Vote Coming Soon. Call Today!

All hands on deck!

Senate President Haridopolos and Rick Scott will Attempt to Ram Prison Privatization through the Senate Tomorrow!

On Monday and Tuesday the Senate will convene to vote on SB 2038, the prison privatization bill. This bill will devastate small communities and working families’ economic stability and safety, but many in the Senate are ignoring this reality so they can funnel our tax dollars to the special interests that own corporate prisons.

Make The Call!

Please call 877-274-0951 to get connected with your Florida State Senator and tell them “to vote no on SB 2038”.

Posted in A Fair Budget, Campaigns, Good Jobs, Preserving Essential Collective Bargaining Rights |

Thank Key State Senators Stopping Prison Privatization

We’ve seen this movie before, as the Tampa Bay Times points out:

It’s easy to tell when Florida’s leaders in Tallahassee are trying to ram through legislation that would not pass on its merits. First they try to sneak it through. Once caught, they change the rules and play with the financial numbers. Then the governor calls in opponents to twist arms. And finally, legislative leaders punish those who won’t get on board.

Private prison contractors have poured contributions into state senator’s campaign accounts, and they wanted their return on investment – a mass privatization of prisons in south Florida. What so often happens in politics is deep pocketed special interests like the prison contractors get their way. So far, not this time.

Thanks to thousands of Floridians who stood up and put relentless pressure on their legislators, and the personal courage of a few key state senators, the grand prison privatization scheme is stalled.

And as the Times points out, with legislators caught red-handed trying to pass bad legislation, those courageous enough to stand up against the scheme get punished. Sure enough, Senate President Mike Haridopolos took away leading privatization critic Sen. Mike Fasano’s committee chairmanship. Fasano’s response?

“No matter how big the bully in the schoolyard may be, if the loss of a chairmanship is the result of taking a stand for what is right, I wear that loss as a badge of honor.”

We need to thank Sen. Fasano and the other key state senators who have stood with working families against prison privatization. Click here to do so now.

Posted in A Fair Budget, Campaigns, Good Jobs, Preserving Essential Collective Bargaining Rights |

Florida Workers Say Handing Control of Governmental Functions to Corporations will Jeopardize Public Safety

(Tallahassee, FL) Working Floridians today said the Legislatures’ scheme to hand over state prisons to private companies will hurt families and communities, while increasing the dangers posed by violent criminals.

During a news conference at the Capitol, the potential harm of privatization was described by those likely to be affected by it: a teacher, a correctional officer, and a law enforcement officer. The delegation was joined by Sen. Mike Fasano, a New Port Richey Republican, who has objected to the rush to privatize the state’s correctional facilities.

The Senate is considering legislation that would privatize nearly half of all Florida’s correctional institutions without a cost-benefit analysis or public oversight. Lawmakers are also considering privatizing other inherently governmental functions, such as education, public health and other kinds of law enforcement.

Penny Reeder, a correctional officer from Starke, said it would be dangerous to privatize prisons.

“Lawmakers want to privatize prisons in 18 counties without doing their homework first,” said Penny Reeder. “We’re proud to be the first line of defense against violent criminals who could harm our family, friends and neighbors. We’re afraid of what will happen to families in Florida if our correctional facilities are turned over to for-profit corporations. Surrounding communities will be less safe, but hardworking people will lose their jobs and small businesses will close. It isn’t right and it isn’t fair to do this to Florida just so a prison company can make more money.”

K.T. Caldwell, a teacher from Seminole County, said jobs and education are taking a back seat to backroom deals.

“Tallahassee politicians want to change the rules to hide the economic impact of privatization from voters so they can reward special interests with contracts even when they cost more and are less efficient,” said K.T. Caldwell, a Seminole County teacher. “They want us to just trust them to do the right thing as they siphon more dollars out of local communities with privatization schemes,” she said.

Lori Goodwin, a deputy sheriff, said her responsibility is to provide safety for Florida’s communities.

“It seems as if the safety of Florida’s families has become secondary,” she said. “I feel that it is never a good public policy to put profit margins over the public’s safety. I am concerned that as we move to privatize our prisons we will further strain our local public safety budgets that have already been cut by 40 percent. That translates to fewer officers on the streets and fewer officers available to pick up the pieces if these corporations fail. When inmates from these privatized facilities escape it will be our job to assist in the capture, which means less time and money spent on your neighborhood and your families’ safety. I would like to see some assurances that these expected cost savings are really a savings and not a cost shift.”

Contact: Josh Anijar
media@fightforflorida.com
Cell 850-228-9841

Posted in A Fair Budget, Good Jobs, Preserving Essential Collective Bargaining Rights |

Stand Up Against The Dangers of Prison Privatization

Rick Scott and some Legislators in Tallahassee are pushing the most dangerous bills imaginable. Two bills, SB 2036 and SB 2038, aim to privatize many governmental services and agencies without the public having a voice in the process. Both SB 2036 and SB 2038 are beyond reckless but Tallahassee politicians want them to become law at any cost.

Here is what these bills do:

Put Your Family’s Safety On The Line
These bills remove any accountability for private prison companies or other public safety contractors. This means more prison escapes, hiring unqualified “security officers” and stretching our local law enforcement too thin.

Costs Florida Thousands Of Jobs
The first thing Scott’s privatization scheme will do is cause thousands of experienced officers to be laid off. These officers and their families will lose their incomes, costing Florida small businesses millions in lost revenue.

Hand Over Billions In Tax Dollars To Political Donors
The same private contractors who want to take over our prisons have given hundreds of thousands of dollars to Tallahassee politicians like Governor Scott. Now, these same politicians are pushing these bills that will hand over your tax dollars to their biggest campaign donors.

Hurts Small Businesses Across Florida
These bills are an economic nightmare for small cities and towns throughout Florida. Privatizing a governmental agency hurts the entire community. If local workers are displaced from their jobs it affects small business, when the work that was being done is privatized and the workers on the job make less, it affects small business.

This is a clear attempt by the Legislature to return the favor by allowing contractors to make huge profits off of your tax dollars. That’s just not fair.

Sign our petition to take a stand for public safety, governmental transparency and accountability.

Posted in A Fair Budget, Campaigns, Preserving Essential Collective Bargaining Rights |

Locations for the September 27th “Save America’s Postal Service” throughout Florida.

Listed below are the locations for the September 27th “Save America’s Postal Service” throughout Florida.

District 1
Who: Congressman Jeff Miller
Where: 348 SW Miracle Strip Pkwy., Fort Walton Beach
When: 4:00p.m. — 5:30p.m.
Who: Congressman Jeff Miller
Where: 4300 Bayou Blvd., Pensacola
When: 4:00p.m. — 5:30p.m.
District 2
Who: Congressman Steve Southerland
Where: 3116 Capital Circle NE., Tallahassee
When: 4:00p.m. — 5:30p.m.
District 3
Who: Congresswoman Corrine Brown
Where: 101 E. Union Street, Jacksonville
When: 4:00p.m. — 5:30p.m.
District 4
Who: Congressman Ander Crenshaw
Where: 1061 Riverside Ave., Jacksonville
When: 4:00p.m. — 5:30p.m.
District 5
Who: Congressman Richard Nugent
Where: 16224 Spring Hill Dr., Brooksville
When: 4:00p.m. — 5:30p.m.
District 6
Who: Congressman Cliff Stearns
Where: 115 S.E. 25th Ave., Ocala
When: 4:00p.m. — 5:30p.m.
Who: Congressman Cliff Stearns
Where: 5700 SW 34th Street, Gainesville
When: 4:00p.m. — 5:30p.m.
District 7
Who: Congressman John Mica
Where: 100 East Sybelia Ave., Maitland
When: 4:00p.m. — 5:30p.m.
Who: Congressman John Mica
Where: 770 West Granada Blvd, Ormond Beach
When: 4:00p.m. — 5:30p.m.
District 8
Who: Congressman Daniel Webster
Where: 300 West Plant Street, Winter Garden
When: 4:00p.m. — 5:30p.m.
Who: Congressman Daniel Webster
Where: 122 E. Main Street, Tavares
When: 4:00p.m. — 5:30p.m.
District 9
Who: Congressman Gus Bilirakis
Where: 35111 US Hwy 19 N., Palm Harbor
When: 4:00p.m. — 5:30p.m.
Who: Congressman Gus Bilirakis
Where: 110 W Reynolds Street, Plant City
When: 4:00p.m. — 5:30p.m.
District 10
Who: Congressman Bill Young
Where: 9210 113th Street, Seminole
When: 4:00p.m. — 5:30p.m.
District 11
Who: Congresswoman Kathy Castor
Where: 4144 North Armenia Ave, Tampa
When: 4:00p.m. — 5:30p.m.
District 12
Who: Congressman Dennis Ross
Where: 170 Fitzgerald Road, Lakeland
When: 4:00p.m. — 5:30p.m.
District 13
Who: Congressman Vern Buchanan
Where: 111 South Orange Avenue, Sarasota
When: 4:00p.m. — 5:30p.m.
District 14
Who: Congressman Connie Mack
Where: 3299 E. Tamiami Trail, Naples
When: 4:00p.m. — 5:30p.m.
Who: Congressman Connie Mack
Where: 804 Nicholas Parkway East, Cape Coral
When: 4:00p.m. — 5:30p.m.
District 15
Who: Congressman Bill Posey
Where: 2725 Judge Fran Jamieson Way, Melbourne
When: 4:00p.m. — 5:30p.m.
District 16
Who: Congressman Thomas Rooney
Where: 171 SW Flagler Avenue, Stuart
When: 4:00p.m. — 5:30p.m.
District 17
Who: Congresswoman Frederica Wilson
Where: 18425 NW 2nd Avenue, Miami Gardens
When: 4:00p.m. — 5:30p.m.
District 18
Who: Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
Where: 4960 SW 72nd Avenue, Miami
When: 4:00p.m. — 5:30p.m.
District 19
Who: Congressman Ted Deutch
Where: 2500 North Military Trail, Boca Raton
When: 4:00p.m. — 5:30p.m.
District 20
Who: Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz
Where: 10100 Pines Blvd, Pembroke Pines
When: 4:00p.m. — 5:30p.m.
District 21
Who: Congressman Mario Diaz Balart
Where: 8669 NW 36th Street, Doral
When: 4:00p.m. — 5:30p.m.
District 22
Who: Congressman Alan West
Where: 6300 NE 1st Avenue, Fort Lauderdale
When: 4:00p.m. — 5:30p.m.
Who: Congressman Alan West
Where: 3111 South Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach
When: 4:00p.m. — 5:30p.m.
District 23
Who: Congressman Alcee Hastings
Where: 2701 W. Oakland Park Blvd, Fort Lauderdale
When: 4:00p.m. — 5:30p.m.
District 24
Who: Congresswoman Sandra Adams
Where: 1000 City Center Circle, Port Orange
When: 4:00p.m. — 5:30p.m.
District 25
Who: Congressman David Rivera
Where: 12851 SW 42nd Street, Miami
When: 4:00p.m. — 5:30p.m.

Posted in Campaigns, General Information, Good Jobs, Preserving Essential Collective Bargaining Rights |

Come Celebrate Labor Day with Fight for Florida!

Earlier this summer, Floridians from all walks of life, came together in Central Florida to Fight for Florida’s Future. Thousands were educated, energized and introduced to the Working Families’ Movement. Now, we need to turn up the volume.

Will you be able to join us on Labor Day? If so click here to RSVP for the celebration nearest you.

Families are barely scraping by. More and more they face tough choices. Some search for jobs. Some work harder and longer to keep the job they have. All make personal sacrifices to keep their families afloat. Meanwhile, politicians do nothing to solve the problems of working families but align themselves with the powerful special interests that caused our economic woes. This is why we need to build a Working Family Movement. We need to put the issues facing the majority of Americans at the forefront of the debate, not as an afterthought. We need a government that will stand up for middle class and working Americans rather than Wall Street and the Big Banks that brought these disasters to our front doors.

Now it is time to take our efforts to the next level. We must come together again to send a message to the politicians that their refusal to put families first by creating jobs and commonsense economic reforms is not tolerable. We need to let them know that their neglect is anything but benign and that the working families of Florida are not going to take it silently anymore. We are going to turn up the volume.

Will you be able to join us on Labor Day? If so click here to RSVP for the celebration nearest you.

In early September, we will be hosting Labor Day celebrations and events across the state. We invite you and your family to join in the festivities. Labor Day is a national holiday to honor all of us, the people that work every day to make America great! On this day, we celebrate and honor the 98% of Americans that either are employed or are looking for the opportunity. Let’s celebrate Florida’s workers and join together in solidarity for a little fun, a little politics and to build the camaraderie we will all need for the struggles that lie ahead.

It’s time to show Rick Scott and Tallahassee politicians that all of Florida’s workers, retirees and students are united in our determination to change the course of our state. Please join us on Labor Day, a day of unity for all working people and their families. It’s time to stand up for good jobs, for an economy that works for all and a government that invests in its greatest resource, its people. There is a lot of work ahead…let’s get together for some fun as we say goodbye to summer and hello to creating a Working Families’ Movement!

Will you be able to join us on Labor Day? If so click here to RSVP for the celebration nearest you.