Spanberger’s Veto of Collective Bargaining Would be the Right Call for Virginia
5/14/2026 — Virginia Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell, the sponsor of a sweeping public-sector collective bargaining bill (Senate Bill 378), said Governor Spanberger told him Wednesday that she planned to veto the legislation. If she does, she will be making the right decision for Virginia taxpayers, local governments, students, public employees and for her status as the […]
Bargaining Bill Would Trampling Public Employee Rights
Tuesday’s column discussed some of the reasons Governor Spanberger should amend or veto the public employee collective bargaining bill headed to her desk: the local and state taxpayer costs, the creation of new bureaucracies, the opposition of local Democrats and a majority of local government and school board leaders and, perhaps most persuasively, the use of […]
Is Union “Dues Skim” Coming to Virginia?
There are many reasons why Governor Abigail Spanberger should veto the collective bargaining bill headed to her desk, a bill requiring local and state governments to bargain with union bosses even if less than a majority of public employees want the union or the bargaining. There is the fact that it will force major spending […]
Minimum Wages, Paid Leave, Vendor Preferences Lead Surviving 2024 Progressive Agenda Items
The aggressive progressive agenda working its way through the 2024 General Assembly has lost some steam at the halfway point, but at least four of the major Democratic goals discussed earlier are still advancing. The two bills that will have the greatest impact on the Virginia economy are the proposed minimum wage increase and a […]
Mason-Dixon Poll: Virginia Voters Support Collective Bargaining Reforms
With several localities in Virginia having passed ordinances allowing government unions a monopoly on representing public employees, the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy today released results of Mason-Dixon poll commissioned to measure certain provisions commonly contained in those ordinances. Those provisions are unpopular with Virginia voters. The results may be found by clicking here. The […]
Lawmaker Introduces Bills Protecting Workplace Freedom
As a handful of localities push to give government unions a monopoly over public employee contracts, lawmakers in Richmond are looking to protect public employees around the state. Del. Nick Freitas, R-Culpeper, has introduced a suite of bills to help protect the rights of public employees, promote union democracy and protect taxpayers. The three bills […]
Securing Workplace Freedom and Rights: Ideas for the New General Assembly
In 2020 the Virginia Assembly changed a decades-old law and allowed local governments to collectively bargain with most public employees. The law went into effect on May 1, 2021 and gives “a county, city, or town… [which includes] any local school board” the ability to adopt a local ordinance or resolution to allow them to […]
Heat Rule Gets Cold Shoulder
Virginia’s Safety and Health Codes Board on Friday voted down a proposed workplace heat protection standard, strongly opposed by the state’s business community but ardently sought by organized labor and farmworker advocates. The Department of Labor and Industry (DOLI) was seeking to push the proposed rules out for a final round of public comments. Abiding by the […]