Few good things come out of late night amendments in Tallahassee.
On Thursday, a House committee approved tacking on seven amendments to a health care bill. The worst one proposes to take away the Miami-Dade County Commission’s power to approve labor contracts with employees at Jackson.
Instead, the proposed amendment would allow the Public Heath Trust to execute labor contracts by itself. Needless to say, SEIU Local 1991 vigorously opposed this change. We were joined by Jackson management, the County and even the PHT to demand that the County Commission should make the final decision on our contracts.
So where did this come from? We’re still looking into that, as the amendment was put forward by a Republican representative from Winter Haven with no real interest in the affairs of a Miami hospital. We suspect he was doing a favor for someone in Miami unhappy with us for winning back our 5%.
The proposal got slapped onto a monster health bill and passed through the committee. However, in order to become law, the Senate would have to pass a similar proposal. We’re working hard to ensure that doesn’t happen.
The session is in recess until April 21. We’ll keep you updated.