Workers at the Norfolk Botanical Garden scored a victory last month when a majority of them voted to form a union.
Now, the hard work of negotiating a union contract begins for these 70 or so workers who are part of the bargaining unit at the Norfolk garden.
It took months to get to this place where they can sit across the negotiating table from their managers to push for better wages and working conditions. Among other things, Norfolk garden workers aim to negotiate for a guaranteed inclement-weather policy and clear attendance practices.
It was the bravery of workers in the same line of work that helped workers in Norfolk stick their necks out to fight for a better tomorrow. Last year, workers at Henrico County’s Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden voted to form a union with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, or IAM Union.
Interested Norfolk garden workers linked up with the Lewis Ginter workers over social media to learn more about how to form a union, and they eventually got in touch with an organizer from IAM Union.
The union push in Norfolk started by word of mouth before culminating in the union election victory last month. One worker, Sage, told me that a key reason for their success was that many of the Norfolk workers had personal connections with each other and valued each other’s opinions. In other words, the key to winning support for a union was broad mutual respect for one another.
Wages are obviously important for every worker, especially when so many jobs pay poverty wages. But when I asked Sage why they wanted to form a union, they didn’t mention winning higher pay.
“My personal motivation for joining the union is just a sense of unity with everyone around the garden mainly,” Sage told me. “This entire process brought us all together as one unified voice.”
As I’ve mentioned in this newsletter before, so many workers in America are alienated from their jobs, and I think low rates of union membership have a lot to do with that.
But here in Virginia, we have a real world example of at least one worker opting to address that feeling by uniting with their peers to work collectively for a better future.