Not all rallies are the same, and the one yesterday evening in Richmond was a special one.
Electricians and grocery store workers who’d won union contracts through collective bargaining stood shoulder to shoulder with home care workers and campus workers banned from exercising the same rights to urge state lawmakers to end the disparity.
Richmond electrician Scott Durbin told me it was “criminal” that hundreds of thousands Virginians are banned from collective bargaining.
“ Collective bargaining is workers standing together to assert their rights against the employer on the job on issues like conditions, like wages, like everything else in the world,” Durbin explained. “We got it and they don’t.”
But home care workers like Athena Jones are hoping, demanding really, that lawmakers come around to the idea that there needs to be a change. She spoke with fire about the absurd unfairness of denying workers living wages and paid sick time and urged workers to “demand and command” what they deserve.
Not just because it’s the fair thing to do, or that it’s best for the workers involved, but because it contributes to the greater good.
“The reality is if home care workers get it, if office workers get it, if healthcare system workers get it, if college (workers) get it, all of Virginia benefits,” Jones said of securing collective bargaining rights.
