Merger
By 1990, FEA-United and FTP-NEA were talking merger. Despite 15 years of competition, neither union had achieved an overwhelming majority among the state's teachers. Worse, the problems confronting the state's schools had not improved much since the mid-1970s. With state politics trending more and more conservative, both unions felt merger would be advantageous. But continuing conflict between the two unions kept merger talks from progressing very far.
The conditions for merger improved in the mid-1990s. In 1996, the national NEA and AFT signed a no-raid agreement. The unions encouraged each state to also sign no-raid and jurisdictional agreements, and both teachers' federations in Florida quickly did so.
With raiding no longer causing tensions between FTP-NEA and FEA-United, a merger was quickly agreed to. FTP-NEA's Board of Directors signed off on the terms of a merger in April 1998, with FEA-United following suit in June. Members of each organization approved the merger in April and May, 1999, and a founding convention was held in June 2000. The combined federation, now calling itself by its original name, represented about 240,000 members and was the largest labor organization in the state. Maureen Dinnen, a Broward County community college professor, was elected president. She subsequently won election as an AFT vice president as well.
Read more about this topic: Florida Education Association