We are sending our usual Thursday edition today because we didn’t send it yesterday as the Dogwood site got a re-design.

Voting on Virginia’s redistricting referendum is over, with the ‘Yes’ campaign winning out, but the legal fights—and the partisan bickering—over redistricting continue.

The Supreme Court of Virginia on Monday will hear oral arguments in Richmond in a case that, as Brad Kutner at Radio IQ reports, could overturn Tuesday’s election.

Below, I report on how some Virginia Democrats in the General Assembly rallied with workers in Richmond on Wednesday before the Legislature rejected Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s amendments to collective bargaining legislation.

And I report on multiple layoff announcements in Virginia this month.

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

Union workers and leaders gathered in Richmond on Wednesday. (Michael O’Connor/Dogwood)

On Wednesday morning, I dropped my daughter off at daycare and then hit I-95 South, bound for Richmond.

Traffic was light so I found myself arriving in time to join the crowd of union workers and leaders forming at the corner of North Ninth and East Grace streets at around 10 a.m.

It was the day of this year’s “veto session,” when state lawmakers meet back in Richmond to respond to the governor’s actions on bills that made it out of the General Assembly.

The goal for the union firefighters, municipal workers, teachers, and home care workers that day was twofold: to pressure lawmakers to reject Spanberger’s changes to the collective bargaining legislation and get her to sign the bill passed by the General Assembly.

As the rally got going, three state lawmakers stopped by to convey their support to the rallygoers: collective bargaining bill sponsor Del. Kathy Tran (D-Springfield); state Del. Lily Franklin (D-Blacksburg); and state Sen. Stella Pekarsky (D-Centreville).

Tran thanked the workers for pushing for the “strongest collective bargaining bill we can get in Virginia.”

“I’m with you in this fight,” she told a cheering crowd.

State lawmakers ultimately rejected Spanberger’s changes to the collective bargaining bill that union leaders took issue with for multiple reasons.

They opposed Spanberger’s request to delay implementation of bargaining rights for local government and school board employees.

And they expressed concern about putting too many decisions in the hands of a board filled with gubernatorial appointees, rather than having rules around union organizing set in state code.

That leaves Spanberger with a stark choice: sign the bill into law as the unions and fellow Democrats want her to; don’t sign the bill and let it become law; or veto the bill.

Watch as Virginia Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell (D) breaks down what’s going on with the debate over the state budget and making data centers pay their fair share.⁣

Virginia is now the first state in the South to create a paid family and medical leave program.

Here’s how Harry Szabo, president of United Campus Workers of Virginia, reacted to news that Virginia Commonwealth University is raising tuition by 3.9% next fall: “Wow, it’s almost like the argument that if we got Collective Bargaining they’d have to raise tuition was facetious and made up.”

In this June 9, 2015, file photo, a help wanted sign is posted at a tractor dealership in Ashland, Va. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

There have been a few notable layoff announcements in recent weeks.

Just today, the wine and spirits distributor Republic National Distributing Company let the state know it’s laying off 428 people at its facility in Ashland as part of a deal with Reyes Beverage Corp. But it’s possible those workers get the chance to keep their jobs as Reyes expands into the state.

Earlier this month, Oliver Inc. announced it was laying off 72 people as part of plans to close a plant in North Chesterfield; Central Garden & Pet is laying off 94 people at a facility it’s closing in Richmond; and, as Matt Busse at Cardinal News reports, Voyant Beauty is laying off 95 people from a plant it’s closing in Roanoke.

A lot of factors go into these decisions, but fair to say these layoffs are indicative of struggles of the current economy and the challenges of bringing back manufacturing in the US.

Andrew Kerley/X

Sal Orlando, assistant news editor at The Commonwealth Times, the student paper at VCU, reports on a new memorial planned in recognition of people whose bodies were dumped down a well after being robbed from their graves between 1848 and 1860.

Orlando reports: “Plans are for the structure to be built between the Kontos Building and Egyptian Building on the MCV campus, near the location of the well where at least 44 adults and nine children, primarily of African descent, were found during a 1994 construction project.”