Gov. Spanberger Betrays More Than Half a Million Public Service Workers By Vetoing Historic Collective Bargaining Legislation

RICHMOND, Va. - The Virginia Public Sector Labor Coalition, which collectively represents hundreds of thousands of workers across the Commonwealth, today issued the following joint statement in response to Gov. Abigail Spanberger's betrayal of half a million of Virginia's public service workers - including teachers, firefighters, home care workers, state workers, county workers, city workers, and some higher ed workers - by expressing her plan to veto historiclegislation that would have allowed workers to collectively bargain for fair wages, benefits and working conditions:

"Shame. Governor Abigail Spanberger today betrayed half a million of Virginia's public service workers by going back on her campaign promise to support collective bargaining rights for the people who keep our Commonwealth and communities running every day. Instead of aligning herself with General Assembly Democrats who unanimously supported this bill, Spanberger instead vetoed the bill just as her predecessor Glenn Youngkin did, sending Virginia workers the crystal clear message that they are no better off than they were under a Republican governor. Many workers were excited by her promise to finally give them a voice on the job, and are now left questioning why she has left them behind.

"It is Orwellian for the governor to suggest that she supports collective bargaining rights while introducing a version of the bill that delayed extending those rights to local workers until the next decade, inserted a killswitch into the bill that would have effectively allowed a future governor to end collective bargaining without a single vote from the General Assembly, and took workers' rights in Virginia backwards by weakening existing collective bargaining agreements and reducing worker protections across the commonwealth. To then hide behind local politicians who are scared to sit down with their own workers, instead of acknowledging the many local elected officials who called on her to sign the bill and the half a million public service workers whose lives could have been made better by this bill, is cowardly. The Governor thinks she knows what is best for workers, and that is precisely the problem. She is not listening to workers.

"Virginia's ban on collective bargaining is rooted in the efforts of Black hospital workers to organize the University of Virginia Hospital in the 1940s. Until 2020, Virginia was one of only three states with a blanket ban on collective bargaining, with the other two being North Carolina and South Carolina. It is shameful that the governor turned her back on an opportunity to undo this remaining legacy of Jim Crow in Virginia.

"The right to collectively bargain is foundational to all other workers' rights. To be clear: in the middle of an affordability crisis, the governor has denied half a million public service workers the freedom to bargain for a living wage, affordable health care, and safe workplaces.

"Working families thank General Assembly Democrats, especially the legislation's patrons Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell and House Democratic Caucus Chair Kathy Tran, who have stood with and fought alongside Virginia's workers."

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Authorized by the Virginia Public Sector Labor Coalition, which comprises Virginia AFL-CIO; American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME); American Federation of Teachers; American Federation of Teachers-American Association of University Professors; Communications Workers of America (CWA); SEIU Virginia 512; Virginia Education Association (VEA); Virginia Professional Fire Fighters (VPFF); UNITE HERE; and United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 400. The coalition collectively represents hundreds of thousands of Virginia workers.

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The AFT represents 1.8 million pre-K through 12th-grade teachers; paraprofessionals and other school-related personnel; higher education faculty and professional staff; federal, state and local government employees; nurses and healthcare workers; and early childhood educators.