the NEA) to do the same. Soon the AFT had a number of large, militant locals in the state. In 1974, the DCCTA disaffiliated from FEA and formed a new statewide teachers' federation, FEA-United. Tornillo began arguing that NEA and AFT should merge in the state of Florida to give educators more power. Tornillo's views carried a great deal of weight because DCCTA was the largest teachers' union in the state, and he was the leader of the militant faction within FEA. But Tornillo's views only worsened the friction between the NEA and AFT in the state. By the end of the year, DCCTA had merged with the AFT affiliate in Dade County and was calling itself the "United Teachers of Dade" (UTD), and Tornillo had convinced education associations representing other large urban school districts in Florida to join the AFT. With more than half of FEA's convention delegates now belonging to the AFT, a statewide merger was inevitable. FEA changed its name to FEA-United and affiliated with the Florida AFL–CIO. But half of the original FEA affiliates refused to merge. The NEA established a new state organization, the Florida Teaching Profession-National Education Association (FTP-NEA), and roughly half the FEA's original members joined it. Collective bargaining and conflict Despite the fragmentation of the FEA, teachers in Florida still were able to achieve a major collective bargaining victory. The militancy of the teachers' unions in Florida, combined with continuing concern over the 1968 strike, prompted the Florida state legislature in 1974 to enact a public employee collective bargaining law. Pat Tornillo helped draft the bill. Tornillo quickly came to control FEA-United. Although he was not elected president of the federation until 1978, a position he held until 2000, he was the dominant force within the new AFT state federation. In 1981, he was elected a vice president of the AFT and sat on the AFT executive council's influential executive committee. Under Tornillo, FEA-United proved to be very influential within the Florida AFL–CIO. A quarter of the AFL–CIO's state membership belonged to FEA-United, and the union began exercising its political muscle. In 1993, FEA-United, working with AFCSME, unseated 16-year incumbent state AFL–CIO president Danny Miller. With FEA-United's support, the post was won by Marilyn Lenard, president of the Space Coast Labor Council and a CWA member. However, conflict between FEA-United and FTP-NEA continued. In March 1983, the AFT successfully raided the FTP-NEA's