The day marks how far into 2026 women have to work to earn what men were able to earn in 2025.

NPR reports that “women working full-time, year-round, now earn 81 cents for every dollar men earn. That’s down from 83 cents a year ago, and 84 cents the year prior,” according to the most recent data from the Census Bureau.

Below, I explore how Virginia Democrats’ redistricting push relates to workers’ rights.

And I get into the weeds on how union negotiations might look under the new public-sector collective bargaining bill.

Want to get in touch, or have stories you want me to cover? Reply to this email or reach out to me directly at michaeloconnor@couriernewsroom.com.

Michael O’Connor

Reporter, Dogwood

Signs at a Richmond polling location for the special election on the redistricting referendum. (Michael O’Connor/Dogwood)

One of the main arguments Democrats are making in support of their redistricting referendum is that it puts them in position to act as a check on the Trump administration, which to many, has been disastrous for workers.

Think of all the Transportation Security Administration workers missing paychecks and struggling to afford things like food and rent because President Donald Trump refuses to pay them.

Then there’s his administration’s gutting of the federal workforce, which has had an outsized impact on Virginia. Not to mention how the rising price of gas eats into wages.

The goal for Democrats in their redistricting effort is to, as they put it, level the playing field against GOP-led gerrymandering in other states to keep them in a position to take back the US House of Representatives, which would provide a major check on Trump’s agenda.

What would it mean for workers if Democrats were able to thwart Trump’s agenda?

I got to ask that question of Lieutenant Governor Ghazala Hashmi in Richmond yesterday after she cast her ballot in support of the redistricting referendum. Here’s what she said:

”Virginia has been disproportionately impacted by the attacks on our federal workforce,” Hashmi told me. “And we are seeing so many families hurting all across the commonwealth and certainly all across the country as well.”

She concluded by saying that “Virginia has an opportunity to speak out and to make sure that Congress reflects us and doesn’t reflect Donald Trump.”

I also asked Hashmi, a former college professor, whether she hopes Gov. Abigail Spanberger adds university professors and adjuncts back into the public-sector collective bargaining bill.

“ It’d be great to make sure that they are back in that bill,” Hashmi said.

At a Tysons rally, labor groups pressed Gov. Abigail Spanberger to sign the bill to bring a casino to Fairfax, Scott McCaffrey at FFXnow reports.

The Charlottesville City Council recently discussed the impact of collective bargaining on budgeting and the city’s tax rate, Kate Nuechterlein at WVIR reports.

US Sen. Mark Warner said a moratorium on the construction of AI data centers would be “idiocy,” Axios reports. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) have proposed a moratorium on all new data center construction in the US.

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The seal of Virginia near the Virginia Capitol Building. (Michael O’Connor/Dogwood)

One of the most common attacks on the public-sector collective bargaining legislation is that it will take away local control.

That’s a common criticism of a lot of legislation that gets debated in the Virginia General Assembly.

The public-sector collective bargaining legislation calls for the creation of a Public Employee Relations Board (PERB) to help manage and regulate the potentially new law in Virginia. And local officials worry that this board is going to dictate how they handle negotiations.

But looking at the bill, it seems like the ultimate decision on agreements made between unions and public entities throughout Virginia would still rest with those public entities.

The legislation says if negotiations hit an impasse, either side can submit a request for mediation to the PERB. They can pick a mediator together or have the PERB appoint one.

Then if the issues aren’t resolved in mediation, they can agree to enter into arbitration. If they can’t agree on an arbitrator, then they can get a list of seven arbitrators from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service or the American Arbitration Association.

Then they take turns striking names off the list until only one is left and that’s the arbitrator. The arbitrator then awards a decision. But these decisions can be approved or rejected by the relevant governing body like a local government.

That, at least, is my reading of the bill.

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(Duke University Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library)

Speaking of collective bargaining, meet the Virginian who was a staunch advocate of workers’ rights from the 1930s to the 1950s.

According to Encyclopedia Virginia, Lucy Randolph Mason (1882–1959) “developed an expertise in industrial matters and became a firm public advocate of collective bargaining and the rights of labor.”