UPDATE ON COLLECTIVE BARGAINING: What is It, and Where Do We Stand?
As we travel throughout the County, what we find over and over again is how little County workers know about collective bargaining, what it means, and when or if it will happen. While the County has posted a lot of material about it, there has been little education or awareness of what is happening.
Collective bargaining is a good thing for workers. It allows them a voice- one that they should select, one that represents a majority of county workers and be voted on by a majority of those in the bargaining unit.
It’s well on its way- thanks to a defective ordinance that favors a corporate controlled union.
In 2020, the Virginia General Assembly passed a law allowing local jurisdictions the right to allow collective bargaining for public employees by passing a local ordinance. The new law was purposefully vague, without any real provisions on how it should work.
In October 2021, the Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance approving collective bargaining for county employees. To date, the Fire and Police Departments have selected bargaining representatives, with preliminary negotiations to begin soon. The effective date of any contract would be July 1, 2025.
In the FRD and PD, long established unions represent most employees. This is not the case with general county workers.
The County’s ordinance was largely influenced and written by SEIU with little input from employees or members. It’s anti-democratic as it’s designed to allow a minority of people to control thousands of county workers. It includes senior management employees, from the S-32 grade and down, and includes limited term employees. Further, the ordinance requires only a majority of those voting to select a bargaining agent for over 10,000 workers. With barely 2,000 workers belonging to a union, this means if only a thousand people vote, only 501 are needed to decide who represents all 10,000. It’s designed to allow minority control.
Under collective bargaining, all representation will be controlled by one group- in the case of SEIU, paid staff that have never worked here.
You deserve a choice in who represents you- one that is truly interested in your well-being, not just your signature.
In order to do so, any union has to obtain the signatures of 30% of those workers who are in the bargaining unit. Most workers are, with the principal exception of those in Human Resources or designated as “confidential employees.” Check and see if you are among them; you probably are.
If you want a real choice, an option to outside entities wanting your money and votes, think about giving the FWC a chance. County workers deserve choices. The other union wants a one party election. Let’s not allow that to happen.
For more information on collective bargaining, go to the collective bargaining page attached to the DHR website. It’s important you are informed- it’s your future.