Last month, a veto by Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger threw labor into an uproar. Accusations of betrayal surrounded Spanberger’s legislative action culminating in a protest demonstration in Richmond’s Capitol Square on May 21. However, when viewed in the larger context of Virginia history, the governor’s action unfortunately stands in continuity with an anti-labor Democratic Party culture dating back some 80 years.
Spanberger’s veto of Bill 1263, legislation passed by Democratic Senators in the General Assembly, killed what would have been historic legislation. If it had become law, the measure would have dismantled the state’s Jim Crow-era “right-to-work” law found in Article 3 of the state codes. It would have granted half-a-million public service workers, including local government employees, home care workers, firefighters, and emergency medical workers, the ability to bargain collectively for fair wages and safer working conditions.
In Virginia, employment lawyer D.S. Gordon points out, right-to-work laws “restrict labor-management agreements requiring workers to financially support the union that represents them.” In other words, the burden on unions to represent all employees—including non-members not paying dues—cripples their finances, membership, and bargaining power.
Spanberger’s stance has changed on right-to-work laws since she was a congresswoman. In 2021 during the first session of the 117th Congress, she both co-sponsored and voted ‘Yea’ on the “...
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