“TEACHER’S UNION HAS NEVER BEEN STRONGER”

Teacher’s Union Leader Begins New Chapter

Thirteen years ago, an unknown thirty-one year old Special Needs science teacher at Hialeah Middle School, answered the call from then United Teachers of Dade President Fed Ingram for rank and file members to get active. Responding to the mass email, Karla Hernandez-Mats, made a homemade sign calling for teacher pay raises and stood alone on Hialeah’s 49th Street. It was on that street corner that President Ingram noticed the precocious middle school teacher whose smile and energy were infectious.

President Ingram invited Karla to become more active in the union and within a year encouraged her to run for Secretary/Treasurer of UTD, the largest local in the state of Florida. Three short years later Karla Hernandez-Mats successfully ran for and was elected as the first Latina President of United Teachers of Dade. President Hernandez-Mats has been re-elected two consecutive times and and has consistently earned 80% voter support.

The proud daughter of Honduran immigrants, Karla’s father is a former farm worker who went from working the fields to becoming a union carpenter. Karla credits her parents for teaching her about the importance of organized labor, unions and education.

Now after nine years as President, Karla is looking to begin a new chapter in her professional career on her own terms and on the heels of several recent victories for the union. “It has been the honor of my lifetime to serve as the President of UTD. After the recent 83% landslide victory for recertification, I realized that UTD the Teacher’s Union has never been stronger and that the time to begin anew is now,” declared Hernandez-Mats.

The most impressive part of this year’s victories was that there was a coordinated effort by Governor DeSantis, the legislature and a billionaire funded out of state anti-worker organization to decertify UTD. The coordinated effort spent over $2,000,000 during the course of twelve months and failed spectacularly. MDEC the group challenging UTD garnered just 13% of the vote to UTD’s 83%.

Among the many honors that President Karla Hernandez-Mats has received are:2010 Hialeah Middle School – Teacher of The Year, Cesar Chavez Action & Commitment – Florida Education Association, Women Of Labor Award – AFL CIO, Diario De Las Americas – Women Of Power and the South Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Leadership in Education Award.

President Karla Hernandez-Mats term runs through May and she has endorsed UTD’s First Vice President Antonio “Tony” White to succeed her. Mr. White’s running mates will be the current Secretary/Treasurer Mindy Grimes-Festge and Miami Northwestern Senior High School ESOL teacher Dannielle Boyer as First Vice President.

UTD Milestone Accomplishments Under President Hernandez-Mats:

– Highest membership percentage (58.6%) in over twenty years.

– 2022  Teacher & Staff Pay Raise Referendum Renewal

– 2020 purchased new UT”D Headquarters debt free.

– 2018 Teacher & Staff Pay Raise Referendum

– 2014 UTD became Debt Free for the first time in decades.

– Under Karla’s Leadership UTD has lead relief missions in person to both the Bahamas and Haiti.

Consider the results:

* Florida Average teacher pay $53,000 — Miami-Dade Average Teacher Pay $75,000

* Average Teacher Pay Increase since 2018 — $17,779 that is 31%.

* Average increase in healthcare premiums nationwide since 2018 is 22% UTD bargaining unit has had ZERO increases to healthcare premiums since 2018.

* UTD and it’s members have helped over 700 colleagues apply and receive over $110,000,000.00 in student loan forgiveness.