The state’s largest teachers’ union, which has already sued Gov. Rick Scott over the new law requiring payroll contributions to the Florida Retirement System, went a little more public Tuesday with its criticism of the Republican governor.

About 250 Florida Education Association members wore ‘Pink Slip Rick’ t-shirts on the convention floor at the National Education Association’s annual meeting  in Chicago.

“Rick Scott wants to protect Wall Street over Main Street with his plan to dole out tax breaks to CEOs while handing pink slips to middle class Floridians,” said FEA President Andy Ford.

The FEA last week absorbed a setback in the lawsuit it is leading on behalf of public employee unions, when a Leon County circuit judge refused to order the state to set aside potentially millions of dollars pending the outcome of the legal challenge. FEA had sought the temporary injunction while the lawsuit over the constitutionality of the pension law proceeds.

Republican lawmakers in the Florida Senate took turns firing shots at the state’s largest teachers union today during a committee hearing over whether the GOP-majority wants to approve a massive expansion of the school voucher program. (They do.)

Finance & Tax Chairman Thad Altman said expanding vouchers would help reduce class sizes, a priority of the Florida Education Association, which opposes vouchers. Sen. Rhonda Storms, R-Valrico, asked FEA lobbyist Lynda Russell to read a Harvard study often cited by voucher advocates “for your education and intellectual expansion.”

Sen. Mike Bennett, R-Sarasota, challenged the union’s assertion that parents top priorities were small class sizes, safe schools and less emphasis on the FCAT.

“They don’t want better teachers for their kids?” Bennett said.

The bill’s lone opponent on the committee, Sen. Charlie Justice, D-St. Petersburg, tried to reign it all in. “Everyone has had their shot at the teachers union,” he said. “Can we get back to the bill?”

But Storms said that FEA President Andy Ford “can take care of himself.” She used her laptop to pull up a copy a recent speech from Ford, who said the union saved millions for public schools during the 2009 session and “once again fought back the barbarians at the gate.”

“That’s us … We’re the barbarians,” an upset Storms said.