Sergeants of the Lee County Sheriffs Office voted 65 percent to 35 percent to decertify the International Union of Police Associations as its bargaining unit.
The mandate was certified today by the Public Employees Relations Commission in Tallahassee.
"This was a far more decisive mandate than the vote by this group that originally ushered the union in and speaks volumes to the failure of union leadership to deliver what it promised," said Lee County Sheriff Mike Scott.
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The sergeants were the first group to unionize and the first eligible to disband as the rules require the union be in place a full year before a vote can be organized to decertify.
Lee County deputies are not yet eligible to petition PERC for since they have not been in place for a year.
"While some have sensationalized and others have politicized the union issue for some time now, I respect the process and have complied with it from the beginning," Scott said. "Everyone is frustrated by these economic conditions, which have been the worst of our lifetime, however, the sentiment across the country appears to be that there is waning sympathy for union demands."
