Gov. Abigail Spanberger has about two weeks to decide whether to expand collective bargaining rights to hundreds of thousands of public employees in Virginia.
Unions representing teachers, firefighters, local government workers, and home care workers held events across the state this week urging Gov. Abigail Spanberger to sign public-sector collective bargaining legislation.
Local Virginia leaders with Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the Virginia Education Association, the International Association of Firefighters, and other unions held events in Roanoke on Tuesday and in Fairfax on Wednesday calling on Spanberger to sign into law legislation that would expand collective bargaining rights to hundreds of thousands of public workers. Another event was held on Thursday in Prince William County.
In an interview before Wednesday’s rally, LaNoral Thomas, president of SEIU Virginia 512, told Dogwood she felt “a little blindsided” by the changes Spanberger had proposed to the legislation.
Those changes, which the Legislature ultimately rejected, included delayed implementation of the bill for local government workers and public school employees and other changes that the unions felt weakened the bill.
“She ran on this,” Thomas said of collective bargaining. “She talked about this during her campaign. She had several conversations with us, had several conversations with other folks about how she supported collective bargaining. And so we’re just concerned that she has not followed through and signed the bill.”
In a statement to Dogwood, a Spanberger spokesperson said the governor was grateful to legislators and advocates for their efforts to expand the rights of public sector workers. The spokesperson said Spanberger proposed changes to the legislation to make sure it “could be successfully implemented.”
“Governor Spanberger partnered with the General Assembly to deliver landmark wins for working families this legislative session — raising the minimum wage, giving Virginians more tools to fight wage theft, and making Virginia the first state in the South with paid family and medical leave — and she will continue to focus on supporting workers, businesses, and local communities across the Commonwealth,” the spokesperson said.
Spanberger has until May 22 to sign the collective bargaining, let it become law without her signature, or veto it.
Thomas framed the possible expansion of collective bargaining rights as a way of holding the line against the erosion of other rights for the many Black and Brown women the legislation would apply to, especially in the home care space.
Thomas noted that Virginia’s crackdown on public sector collective bargaining rights has its roots in the struggles of Black women who worked at a University of Virginia hospital in the 1940s.
“We need her [Spanberger] to make sure that she is not continuing the disenfranchisement of black workers, of women who for so many centuries have been pushed to the side, have been left out,” Thomas said. “And we see it happening again. History is repeating itself, and so we are calling on her: don’t make history in the wrong way.”
Some local government leaders around the state have come out against the legislation, while others have spoken up in support of it.
Fairfax County Supervisor Andres Jimenez wants to see Spanberger sign the legislation based on how he’s seen it work in his locality, which approved collective bargaining for its workforce in 2022.
“It has worked very well here in Fairfax County,” Jimenez said in an interview. “And we want to make sure that others across the state have an opportunity to also be part of and work on collective bargaining.”
Jimenez said the county works to ensure funds for collective bargaining agreements are allocated in a way that “makes sense financially.” He added that giving its workers the right to collective bargaining has helped Fairfax attract talent to its workforce.
“It is making sure that their rights are guaranteed, that their wages are fair, and you can only do that through a system like collective bargaining,” Jimenez said.
