PERC Ballot
You should have received your PERC Ballot in the mail (or at your worksite if you are one of the 200 instructional staff with public record protections) by April 30, 2025. A vote for LCEA ensures your right to advocate for better wages and working conditions.
How to Vote
Please follow the instructions to properly vote and return your ballot BY MAY 10th. For full instructions, see the procedure that was sent in your ballot packet or see the image below.
Return Your Ballot
Please follow the instructions to properly sign, place the ballot in the envelope, put a stamp on the mailer envelope, then mail the ballot BY MAY 10th. It would be best to take the envelope to the post office to be sure it is mailed.
Procedure
Please follow the instructions sent with the ballot.
What is PERC and why do we have to hold a PERC election?
The State of Florida has a Public Employee Relations Commission (PERC) that oversees all public sector unions in Florida. An anti-union bill (SB 256) that passed the Florida Legislature in 2023 now requires all public unions, except police and fire, to have 60% dues paying members to be automatically recertified by PERC as the collective bargaining agent for employees every year. Not only did this bill create an arbitrary membership threshold to maintain bargaining rights, but it also took away payroll union dues deduction. The date for PERC recertification is also a moving target. This is especially hard on teacher unions which have massive swings in employee numbers every summer. All of these policies did what they were intended to do, weaken union membership and power. However, we are fighting back!
LCEA has gained back 87% of our membership since SB 256 was passed and we are gaining more members every day! It is our hope that we will soon meet and exceed the 60% threshold required to automatically recertify for PERC every year. Until then, we have several hoops we have to jump through including a PERC election.