'One Florida' Brings 30,000 Protesters
"Affirmative action is a core value of the labor movement because we stand for equal opportunity and economic justice for everyone," Florida AFL-CIO President Marilyn Lenard told a crowd of 30,000 union members, community leaders and religious and civil rights activists at the Florida state capitol in Tallahassee March 7. They condemned Gov. Jeb Bush's "One Florida" plan to scrap affirmative action in college admissions and state purchasing.
The massive protest coincided with the opening day of the state legislature and Bush's "State of the State" message. More than 6,000 union members-many riding on the 45 buses chartered by Florida unions-made the trip from across the state, from as far south as Miami, some 500 miles away.
For 25 years, affirmative action has helped Florida's children overcome discrimination and has given them a chance to compete fairly for admission to the state's colleges and universities. It also has helped level the playing field for minority contractors bidding for state business and for minority citizens seeking state employment.
"One Florida not only hurts blacks," Tyrone Brewster of Teamsters Local 769 told the Miami Herald. "It hurts women, Hispanics and everyone who is a minority."
But last year, Bush issued an executive order to scrap these effective programs. In January, two state legislators-Rep. Tony Hill, who is also Florida AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer, and Sen. Kendrick Meek-held a sit-in at the lieutenant governor's offices in protest. As a result, Bush agreed to appoint a 15-member legislative panel to hold public hearings in Jacksonville, Miami and Tallahassee, which thousands of workers from throughout the state attended. Although more than 10,000 people took part in the hearings, Bush and his cabinet approved the plan in February.
Speaking at the rally were the Rev. Jesse Jackson, NAACP President Kweisi Mfume, Martin Luther King III, Rep. Carrie Meek (D) and members of Congress from Florida, Texas and South Carolina. AFSCME President Gerald McEntee, AFSCME Secretary-Treasurer William Lucy, Machinists President Tom Buffenbarger and UNITE Vice President Clayola Brown were among union speakers.
In February, the AFL-CIO Executive Council passed a resolution supporting affirmative action in Florida.