FDOC Teamster Officers Make History

No one thought we had a chance.

When Florida’s Senate leadership filed a bill to privatize more than two dozen prisons, everyone figured it was a done deal.

If the bill passed, it would have devastated thousands of hardworking correctional officers. They would have lost their jobs. Many would have had to travel long distances and take a cut in pay – if they were lucky enough to find a new job. Some, who couldn’t afford to move or to travel, wouldn’t find jobs at all.

But the people who thought prison privatization was a foregone conclusion hadn’t accounted for the Teamster FDOC officers.

They put up one hell of a fight. The officers emailed their senators. They rallied. They wrote letters to their newspapers. They attended meetings. They signed petitions. They drove day after day after day to the Capitol to talk to the press, to visit with their senators, to testify against the bill. Some drove for hours on little sleep to make their voices heard.

Even when lawmakers tried to silence their voices, they didn’t give up.

They just kept fighting.

And on the evening of Valentine’s Day, the Florida Senate voted 21-to-19 to kill the privatization bill.

Working together, these union members made history.

There's a lot more work to be done. Florida’s Department of Corrections wants to shut down facilities, and we have to fight to keep them open. Privatization is likely to be back on the agenda next year.

But for now, this is one sweet victory.

View photos of the victory, here.