As Virginia prepares to enter a new era of public-sector collective bargaining, some local governments and their employees have had a head start.
Alexandria City, for example, just saw its fifth group of workers form a union. The workers in question are considered professional employees; they are urban planners, therapists, and accountants.
That’s because despite the state ban, Virginia allows individual localities to opt in or out of public-sector collective bargaining.
I heard about this from a press release put out by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the union these Alexandria City workers unionized with.
I reached out to the union over email to see if it could put me in touch with one of the workers to hear more about their goals.
That’s how I connected with Tia Littlejohn-Adams, who works as an accountant for Alexandria. Over text, we agreed to meet up at a Panera near her home in Fort Washington, Maryland.
A self-described “local government girl,” Littlejohn-Adams shared with me how she was very familiar with public-sector unions because of the many years she spent working for Montgomery County in Maryland.
She was less familiar with the organizing side of things, but was happy to help when asked.
When people attack public-sector unions, you don’t ever hear them talking about the experienced workers with master’s degrees who love their jobs, but just want a little more say in how things are done and a way to push back when things seem unfair.
But that’s been Littlejohn-Adams’ experience.
“It’s a little antiquated with some things, but I think with the union being there we can bring them up to where they need to be,” Littlejohn-Adams said of Alexandria. “But it’s an amazing city to work for.”
