Bacon's Rebellion

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Status of Public Employee Collective Bargaining

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by

Dick Hall-Sizemore
in ,

Public sector workers organize in Loudoun. (Service Employees International Union)

by Dick Hall-Sizemore

The Virginia Mercury has performed a service by compiling a list of the status of public employee bargaining in the Commonwealth.

So far, eight jurisdictions have adopted ordinances authorizing collective bargaining agreements. There is activity in another six localities.  “Activity” is defined as campaigns advocating collective bargaining agreements or local government officials drafting such agreements.  One locality has rejected collective bargaining. 

The breakdown is:

Accepted

  • Loudoun
  • Fairfax
  • Arlington
  • Alexandria
  • Charlottesville
  • Richmond
  • Portsmouth

Activity

  • Prince William
  • Newport News
  • Norfolk
  • Virginia Beach
  • Lynchburg
  • Montgomery County

Rejected

Clarke County

 

For school districts, the breakdown is as follows:

Accepted

  • Arlington
  • Richmond

Activity

  • Loudoun
  • Fairfax
  • Winchester
  • Henrico
  • Hampton
  • Virginia Beach
  • Charlottesville

Rejected

Albemarle

 

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Comments

8 responses to “Status of Public Employee Collective Bargaining”

  1. James Wyatt Whitehead Avatar
    James Wyatt Whitehead

    I was surprised to see Albemarle schools reject CB.

  2. James McCarthy Avatar
    James McCarthy

    Working people don’t know what’s good for them. Their goals are likely to cause Virginia to slip further down in the most favored business jurisdictions to spawn more hair on fire diatribe. Let them eat cake! Or one another. So much for the post Roe let the roller decide.

    1. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      Given this is a country feverishly striving to remove women’s dominion over their bodies and futures, then what chance does employed labor have?

  3. Carter Melton Avatar
    Carter Melton

    Just wait until these school boards and cities and counties realize that behind all of the feel-good union pablum being poured down their pants is a cold negotiating philosophy that starts with a belief that “what’s mine is mine….and what’s yours is mine and these “negotiations” are really about what we will let you have back”….and that includes, of course, the key management decisions of your enterprise.

  4. f/k/a_tmtfairfax Avatar
    f/k/a_tmtfairfax

    Collective bargaining in the public sector should have been accompanied by a law prohibiting any political contributions, in cash or in kind, by a labor union, its affiliates, its PAC, or by any other bundler or union member.

    We don’t allow federal contractors to make contributions. See Wagner v. FEC, 793 F.3d 1 (D.C. Cir. 2015). Then Chief Judge Garland summarized the case as follows: “[P]laintiffs, who are individual government contractors, contend that this statute violates their First Amendment and equal protection rights. Because the concerns that spurred the original bar remain as important today as when the statute was enacted, and because the statute is closely drawn to avoid unnecessary abridgment of associational freedoms, we reject the plaintiffs’ challenge.” Cert. was denied by the Supreme Court.

    The statute is good public policy because it prohibits “pay to play” and gives confidence to the public that the contracting process is not subject “bribes” in the form of campaign contributions.

    Any state that permits collective bargaining in the public sector should have a similar law.

  5. Steve Fuhrmann Avatar
    Steve Fuhrmann

    Mr. Hall-Sizemore: Including Charles City County as approving collective bargaining is an error. Neither the chair of the Board of Supervisors, nor the County Administrator, is aware of any such agreement.

    1. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
      Dick Hall-Sizemore

      I was surprised to see Charles City County on the list published by Virginia Mercury. I should have followed up on my initial skepticism.

      Virginia Mercury relied on “local news reports”. I assume they mistook Charles County in Maryland or perhaps Charles City in Iowa for Charles City County in Virginia.

      I apologize for perpetuating that error and have corrected the article.

      1. Steve Fuhrmann Avatar
        Steve Fuhrmann

        Thanks. I also noted the error to the Mercury reporter.

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