Virginia lawmakers pass bills to expand collective bargaining rights to public workers

Each chamber of the Virginia General Assembly passed different versions of a bill that would lift the ban on collective bargaining for state workers. 

Both chambers of the Virginia General Assembly passed a bill Tuesday to lift the state ban on collective bargaining for state employees, but whether higher education workers and home care workers ultimately get included remains to be seen.

The Virginia House of Delegates passed a bill that would repeal the state ban on collective bargaining for thousands of state employees, but not for higher education workers at public universities. 

House Bill 1263 passed in a vote of 61 to 35. It now goes to the Senate for consideration. 

The bill would give local government and school board employees, workers at state agencies, and home care workers the right to collectively bargain for better wages and working conditions.  Currently, local employees can only collectively bargain if their local governments or school boards allow them to. 

The bill as originally filed by state Del. Kathy Tran (D-Springfield) would have also expanded collective bargaining rights to higher education workers at public universities. But these workers were excluded from the version of the bill the House of Delegates ultimately passed. Tran could not be reached for comment on Tuesday. 

The Senate version of the bill, which passed on Tuesday in a 21-19 vote, includes campus workers but excludes home care workers. 

Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell (D-Mount Vernon) said home care workers got removed from the bill over fiscal concerns and that there will be a study looking at the issue.

Athena Jones, Home Care Chapter President of SEIU Virginia 512, said both bills leave workers behind.

“We call on both chambers to work together in the coming weeks to make these bills one so that all workers, whether in home care or higher ed, have the freedom to form a union and bargain collectively for a contract,” she said in a statement.

Asked about campus workers being removed from the House version of the bill, Surovell, who carried the bill in the Senate, suggested he will fight to have them included. 

“I used to work in the JMU campus cafeteria and I support the ability of our campus workers to organize,” he said in a text to Dogwood. 

Labor unions and workers criticized the removal of higher education employees from the House bill. 

Cecelia Parks, a member of United Campus Workers of Virginia and a librarian at the University of Virginia, said she’s frustrated about the House bill, especially given how much university presidents make compared with campus workers. Parks added that collective bargaining is about more than just money. 

“Bargaining also gives us a seat at the table for a lot of other things, lots of other ways to improve our working conditions, which then in turn will improve the educational experience that we can provide,” Parks said in an interview. 

United Campus Workers of Virginia is planning a series of events around the state to raise awareness about its fight for collective bargaining rights. 

Gary Broderick, a lead organizer with the union, said it was important to remember that Virginia made it illegal for campus workers to collectively bargain as part of the response to Black hospital workers at the University of Virginia fighting for better pay. 

“I think that history is important because it correctly ties what workers in Virginia are experiencing to the kind of Jim Crow regime history,” Broderick said.