Governor Spanberger Double Crosses Workers with Veto of Bargaining Rights Bill
For decades, Virginia was one of only two states in the entire country that outright banned unions for state, county, and municipal government employees. The ATU and the labor movement in the state mobilized voters to elect a governing pro-worker majority in the state legislature who crafted legislation to fix this historic injustice. But Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger vetoed the legislation which would have given half a million public workers in Virginia, including over 1,000 mass transit workers, the right to unionize.
Governor Spanberger Shows True Colors
“While on the campaign trail, Governor Spanberger invoked her grandfather’s union membership to claim that she was one of us. She has since shown us her true colors. When it really counted, history will reflect that Governor Spanberger stabbed us in the back,” said
ATU International President John Costa. “The Governor had an opportunity to repudiate union-busting in Virginia by passing this legislation and giving workers and their unions a foothold where there was none before. Instead, she has shamefully shown that when the choice has to be made, she will not hesitate to double-cross us.”
In multiple jurisdictions across Virginia, supermajorities of transit workers have signed union cards to join the ATU, but their local governments have refused to honor their will to join a union. The Governor had a chance to right this wrong and guarantee these hard-working public servants the same union rights that millions of other workers across the country enjoy.
Governor Spanberger claimed in bad faith that the collective bargaining bill went too far and didn’t accommodate the concerns of a group of mayors who have always opposed union rights. If she was truly interested in promoting a collaborative bill, however, she would have worked with the legislature and raised her concerns during the drafting process. Instead, she withheld such feedback, and after the legislature moved the bill forward, she chose to gut the measure by sending back a weak substitute bill to the legislature.
ATU Will Continue Fight for Union Rights
The ATU applauds the rest of the Democratic caucus for fighting to bring this legislation to the Governor’s desk in the first place, particularly co-sponsors Senator Surovell and Delegate Tran. “Spanberger’s veto is a setback to these unorganized workers who currently have few rights on the job,” Costa continued. “This will not be the end of this saga. The recent progress made there is an encouraging sign that finally, working people and our Union are gaining a foothold where there wasn’t one before. The ATU will continue to fight to expand working peoples’ rights and build our strength in Virginia.”