Virginia public employees plead for expansion of collective bargaining rights

RICHMOND, Va. (CN) — Virginia legislators have introduced bills expanding collective bargaining, hoping to change the state's historically anti-labor reputation. 

State Senator Jennifer Boysko and Delegate Kathy Tran, both Democrats, introduced bills that would repeal Virginia's prohibition on collective bargaining by public employees. Lawmakers, including Boysko, passed a law in 2020 that allows local governments to bargain collectively with their employees upon adopting an authorizing ordinance or resolution.

"This year's bill builds on that progress by ensuring that our dedicated public service professionals have the fundamental right to join the union and engage in collective bargaining, regardless of their zip code," Boysko said at a press conference.

The 2020 law excluded state-level employees, higher education workers and state-paid contractors. 

"We didn't go far enough, and I knew it back then," Boysko said. "But it was what we could get past the time. We need to extend the freedom to ensure that all of our public sector workers in Virginia, including our teachers, and our social workers, our homecare workers and campus workers at public universities, have the right to negotiate for fair wages and safe working conditions. They need a seat at the table."

 This session's bills put the decision to unionize and collectively bargain in the hands of the workers rather than school boards or local governments. Some metropolitan areas like Richmond have decided via city council to authorize collective bargaining, while Portsmouth's government officials voted against it.

Maggie Hansford, a teacher and president of the Prince William Education Association, the union representing Prince William County schools' teachers and staff, recently negotiated the largest contract for educators in the state's history, earning an average pay raise of over 5% for the school districts 11,000 teachers and staff. 

"When we trust our educators, we have fully funded, fully staffed schools," Hansford said at the press conference. "We know what our students need and we know what our peers are going through every day." 

Prince William's school board adopted a resolution to allow collective bargaining following Boysko's 2020 bill. However, the new bill would open up collective bargaining to all school districts as long as most employees agree to bargain collectively. 

Adjunct instructor and doctoral candidate at Virginia Commonwealth University, Jenna Gabriel, said university employees are desperate to negotiate contracts that provide better job security. 

"Collective bargaining would be life-changing for my co-workers," Gabriel said. "Having a voice on the job would allow us to negotiate for the issues we care about. Less tenuous contracts, safe spaces to live and work, class sizes that allow us to support our students, paid time off to care for our families, health insurance, child care, fair wages, the list goes on."

Gabriel echoed Hansford's sentiment that better contracts for educators mean better student experiences. 

"VCU students deserve access to instructors who aren't on the job hunt every year while they wait to see if their contract is going to be renewed," Gabriel said. 

Athena Jones advocates for state-paid home health care workers like herself seeking to receive a living wage and paid family and medical leave.

"When we talk about collective bargaining, we're talking about creating legacies, not just for the 1%," Jones said at the press conference. "But for the people that exist at the bottom of the triangle who demand and command the same life that anyone else deserves."

Virginia's prohibition on collective bargaining by public employees stems from a resolution to stop the Black University of Virginia Hospital's nurses, janitors and orderlies from unionizing in 1946. Despite being no longer legally allowed to bargain with the university, the Local 550 did not disband. It achieved victories like reducing hours worked from 72 hours to 48 and increasing salaries by 100% through collective action. 

The state sued the Arlington County school board after they adopted specific policies and entered into several collective bargaining agreements with various labor unions as the exclusive representatives of different groups of Arlington public employees. The Supreme Court of Virginia upheld the prohibition in 1977 and dissolved all of the school boards' bargaining agreements. 

This session, other collective bargaining legislation up for debate includes a bill to permit governing bodies of public transportation to adopt resolutions recognizing labor unions as bargaining agents. 

"Our communities are stronger when all workers have the collective voice to bargain for better pay and better benefits and better working conditions," Tran said at the press conference.

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