Democratic candidates for lieutenant governor come out against anti-union ‘right-to-work’ laws

“This is a fight between the haves and the have nots,” said state Sen. Aaron Rouse. “We have to fight to make sure we balance out this equation.”

All six candidates in the Democratic primary for Virginia lieutenant governor want to overturn state laws that weaken unions and undermine worker rights. 

Five of the six candidates came out against Virginia’s so-called “right-to-work” laws during a forum hosted by the political group Red Wine & Blue in Roanoke on Wednesday. You can see what they said here. 

The five candidates at the forum were state Sen. Ghazala Hashmi of the Richmond area; former Richmond mayor Levar Stoney; Prince William County School Board Chairman Babur Lateef; state Sen. Aaron Rouse of Virginia Beach; and former federal prosecutor Victor Salgado. 

A sixth candidate, Alex Bastani, a former economist with the Bureau of Labor Statistics, was not at the forum, but supports repealing right-to-work laws, according to his website. 

These laws allow employees to enjoy the benefits of being in a union without having to be a member or pay dues, which ultimately hamstrings unions in their ability to protect workers. Right-to-work creates what social scientists call a free-rider problem, where people benefit from a shared good without contributing to it. For example, if a union wins a pay increase at a factory, it benefits all the applicable workers, regardless of whether they are part of the union. 

“We need to increase union density,” Salgado said. “We need to make sure that people have a right to negotiate and to bargain for better wages.”

Union membership has grown in recent years in Virginia as unions have gained popularity across the US. About 5% of Virginia wage and salary workers were union members in 2024, up from 4.3% the year before, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Meanwhile, Gallup polling shows that 70% of Americans support labor unions, a high level of support not seen since the 60s when union membership was much more common.   

Salgado also said he wanted to impose criminal penalties on companies that knowingly misclassify workers to suppress wages and skirt tax laws. 

Stoney noted that collective bargaining agreements were struck with city workers in his time as mayor of Richmond. He said that the pathway for working-class people to the middle class has narrowed and declined as union membership has declined over the decades in America. While some may argue right-to-work laws are key drivers of economic growth, that has not proven to be the case in other right-to-work states like Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi, Stoney said. 

“It is time that the commonwealth of Virginia step up for its workers and we become not just the best place for business, but the best place for workers as well,” Stoney said. 

In stating her support of repealing right-to-work laws, Hashmi noted she had earned the endorsement of Unite Here, a union representing hotel, airport, and food service workers with over 8,000 members in Virginia. She cited her work in the General Assembly to win worker protections and her support for collective bargaining. 

“If we’re going to grow the middle class, if we’re actually going to ensure that every single Virginian has an opportunity to live in decent housing, to earn a fair wage, to get an education, and to move forward, we must ensure that collective bargaining and the rights of workers are respected in every single industry,” Hashmi said. 

Lateef said he has supported increases to wages during his time with the University of Virginia Health System Board and  said he helped crack down on wage theft on construction projects at UVA. Lateef also noted he was part of the Prince William School Board when school division workers there won a collective bargaining agreement that increased wages and strengthened their benefits. 

Rouse said he had been endorsed by a Teamsters union and noted how he helped kill a Republican effort this past legislative session to add right-to-work laws to the state constitution. Rouse said while on the Virginia Beach City Council, he also fought to get pay raises for city workers

“Here in America, too much of the wealth is accumulated in the top 1%,” Rouse said. “There is no more middle class. This is a fight between the haves and the have nots. We have to fight to make sure we balance out this equation.” 

 The Republican nominee for lieutenant governor, John Reid, did not respond to a request for comment on where he stands on right-to-work laws.