"We are the Florida AFL-CIO. We're here for you. We presently have about 450 affiliated local unions from 41 national and international unions. Over fifty councils are also affiliated. We represent over 500,000 active and retired Florida workers living in our state.We work to provide better lives for all of Florida’s working families, members or not, through political and legislative action, grassroots mobilization and organizing new workers into Florida’s labor movement. We also provide a wide range of community services working to build stronger and healthier communities. The Florida AFL-CIO operates under and is guided by the following objects and principles. *To secure legislation which will safeguard and promote the principle of collective bargaining, the rights of workers, farmers and consumers, and the security and welfare of all the people, and to oppose legislation harmful to these objectives; * To protect and strengthen our democratic institutions, to secure full recognition and enjoyment of the rights and liberties to which we are justly entitled, and to preserve and perpetuate the cherished traditions of our democracy; *To encourage the organization of all workers without discrimination on the basis of race, sex, age, religion, color, national origin or ancestry, disability, marital status, or political affiliation so they may share equally in the full benefits of union organization; *To preserve the independence of this Federation in political action, while preserving the independence of the labor movement from political control. To encourage workers to register and vote, to exercise their full rights and responsibilities of citizenship and to perform their rightful part in the political life of the local, state and national communities; *To influence public opinion and increase public understanding of the labor movement and its contributions to society; *To aid and assist the bona fide labor press of this state; *To aid and encourage the sale and use of union-made goods and union services through the use of union labels and other symbols; *To abolish the competition of convict labor with the labor of free workers and to eliminate child labor; *To promote a strong, free, public education system and to insure that the contributions of labor are presented; *To safeguard the democratic character of the labor movement and to protect its autonomy; *To act in behalf of all labor as a coordination and service agency with the various agencies of state government; *To abide by and conform to the Constitution of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations. " The Florida AFL-CIO used the following criteria to assign scores to state legislators: - Effectiveness at passing legislation beneficial to workers, retirees and their families; - Consistency of supporting legislation beneficial to workers, retirees and families, whether or not the legislation passed; - Effectiveness at influencing colleagues on behalf of legislation beneficial to workers, retirees and families, particularly through debate; - Accessibility and openness to AFL-CIO lobbyists, COPE members and friends of labor; - Fairness and willingness to help labor when we are outgunned (procedurally or in open discussion). The following ratings are based on ranking sheets completed by all United Labor Lobbyists; a point system was established for both the Senate and the House. In the Senate, total possible points range from a high of 40 and a low of 1. In the House, points range from 120 to 1.