Workers and allies holding signs reading Be Like Dr. MLK: Support the City Workers Union

On King Holiday, Virginia Beach City Workers Rally for Collective Bargaining

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. took his last stand supporting city workers in Memphis, Tennessee demanding the right to collectively bargain. The 1,300-strong sanitation workers’ strike in 1968 was sparked by the deaths of two Black city workers who had been crushed on the job by a malfunctioning truck. 

As the nation celebrated the King holiday, the Virginia Beach City Workers Union, UE Local 111 honored his real legacy as they gathered at the Virginia Beach City Council meeting on Tuesday to request that the council pass a resolution in support of collective bargaining. 

“With the recent election of four new members to city council, city workers are hopeful that 2023 will be a year of big changes, including the passage of a resolution in support of collective bargaining,” said Terry Green, chair of the Virginia Beach City Worker Union, UE Local 111, and a Utility Mechanic II in Water Distribution, Public Utilities Department. 

In the November 2022 local elections, UE members educated and mobilized workers and allies to vote in support of candidates that openly supported collective bargaining, securing a new majority on the city council.

City workers across Virginia have a historic opportunity to overcome the state’s ban on collective bargaining in the public sector, a racist legacy of the Jim Crow era. A new law, effective from May 1, 2021, allows municipal workers collective bargaining rights for the first time in history, provided their local government passes a resolution in favor of it. Six local governments across Virginia have passed such resolutions to date. Education workers in the Richmond Public Schools ratified the state’s first public-sector collective bargaining agreement on December 14, 2022. 

“We must guard against being fooled by false slogans such as ‘Right to Work,’” Dr. King said in 1961. “Its purpose is to destroy labor unions and the freedom of collective bargaining by which unions have improved wages and working conditions of everyone.” 

The Virginia Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis released a report in 2021 that found that collective bargaining promotes equity at work. According to their report, “Overall, public-sector collective bargaining tends to boost pay by 5% to 8%, and the fair and clear standards provided by unionization particularly help Black and Latinx workers. Women, who make up the majority of local government workers (especially in Virginia), would also particularly benefit from collective bargaining.”

Union Endorsed City Council Candidates WIN Election, Setting Path for Collective Bargaining

Virginia Beach city workers are on a road map to making history !!!!!

Members of the Virginia Beach City Workers Union, UE Local 111 put in hard work during the past few months, volunteering to work the polling sites, distributing yard signs and speaking at churches in support of endorsed city council candidates. In the end it was a major VICTORY for city workers as we move closer to a Collective Bargaining REALITY. 

With the victory of the four candidates we endorsed – Jennifer Rouse, Worth Remick, Joash Schulman and Amelia Hammond – we now have secured the SIX SEAT MAJORITY ON CITY COUNCIL to pass a resolution and ordinance for Collective Bargaining (including incumbents Sabrina Wooten and Michael Berlucchi). 

Help Make History – SIGN A UNION CARD TODAY!

In order to change Virginia Beach Jim Crow laws you have to educate yourself and engage in the political process and build relationships with city council members who will support Collective Bargaining for city workers. It is a new day in Virginia Beach because workers have a majority of city council who will support Collective Bargaining and WE will continue to fight for the changes city workers need!” 

—Terry Green, Water Distribution, Utilities Chair,  VB City Workers Union UE Local 111

“Virginia Beach city workers are worth my time going out all day to support at the polls because anyone who cares about my rights, as a city worker and supports Collective Bargaining for all city workers is worth my Vote and support. City workers have to stand together in this hour because history is writing itself as we push for collective bargaining. Be the change you are Looking forward to joining this worker-run union TODAY!!!”

Patricia Thebert, Behavioral Specialist, Human Services department

Virginia Beach City Workers Demand Collective Bargaining, End to Jim Crow Legacy

Virginia Beach city workers held a rally and press conference at City Hall on Tuesday, January 18, demanding a real voice for safety, dignity, living wages and an end to institutional racism on the job. The members of newly formed Virginia Beach City Workers Union, UE Local 111, were joined by supporters from the faith community in calling on the Virginia Beach City Council to pass a resolution in support of collective bargaining.

Alfred “Red” McClenny

“We have to confront this systematic racism and racial disparity that manipulates the city’s decision making when it comes to social and economic equality,” said Alfred “Red” McClenny, who works in waste management for the Department of Public Works. “I feel collective bargaining is a step to help us bridge that racial divide.”

Minister Gary McCollum said, “As faith leaders in our beloved city, we implore you to search long and deep in your hearts to consider the many contributions from our city employees, who have maintained our city through a devastating pandemic, as a cherished tourist destination.”

Minister Gary McCollum

McCollom pointed out that “Last year’s Waste Management work stoppage highlighted for all of us the overarching concerns for city employees to have their voices heard around wages, systemic racism, benefits and working conditions. … There is now a historic opportunity to right the past injustices by allowing city workers to collectively bargain.”

Rev. Dr. James Allen, president of Virginia Beach’s Interdenominational Ministerial Conference, also spoke in favor of collective bargaining rights.

A new law, effective since May of 2021, allows municipal workers in Virginia to exercise the right to collective bargaining once their city council passes a resolution supporting it. Five local governments across Virginia have passed such resolutions to date. The new law partially overturns the state’s ban on collective bargaining by public employees, a racist legacy of the Jim Crow era.

Low Pay, Short Staffing and Dangerous Working Conditions

Terry Green

In November, the Virginia Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis released a report that found that nine out of ten city employees in Virginia Beach cannot afford to raise even a single child within the city limits. For the last several months, hundreds of city workers have quit their jobs out of frustration with the stressful work environment, low pay and lack of a real voice.

“Working in the water department is becoming completely impossible due to so many staff leaving,” said Terry Green, who works for the city’s public water utility. “The city used to have eight water crews, now we are down to less than three crews to cover the whole city. We are working lots of overtime to cover all the water main breaks and keep the water running for the residents.”

With the Omnicron variant of COVID-19 rapidly spreading, workers are now facing on-going dangerous working conditions. Patricia Thebert, a behavior specialist at the West Neck Intermediate Care Facility, said “In Human Services we are currently experiencing over a quarter of our staff testing positive with COVID due to the Omnicron variant. The City has not done enough to keep us safe through the pandemic.”

Carrying on Dr. King’s Legacy

Patricia Thebert

The event was held the day after the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday. Dr. King Jr took his last stand supporting city workers in Memphis, Tennessee demanding the same rights that Virginia Beach city workers are now demanding.

“When I read about Dr. King’s support for workers organizing a union to challenge unsafe work conditions in Memphis, and their fight for collective bargaining over 50 years ago, I can’t help but be disappointed that we still have to fight for those same rights today,” said Thebert. “We need a real voice on the job through a union to help retain staff and dignified working conditions,” added Green. 

Teresa Stanley, a member of Tidewater Sowers and a parishioner at Church of the Holy Apostles and member of the City’s Human Relations Commission, declared that “The sin of systemic racism has resulted in a disproportionate number of the lowest paid workers in essential public sector employment being people of color and women. It is a moral imperative that as people of faith, we stand in solidarity with those that are working to dismantle oppressive economic practices for the common good of all.

“We believe that the economy must serve people (all people), not the other way around,” concluded Stanley. “This is why we stand firm in support of collective bargaining.”

After a brief rally and press conference outside City Hall, workers and their allies went inside and spoke at the City Council meeting. Among those addressing the city council meeting were Devon Conley of the city’s Department of Public Works, UE Eastern Region President George WaksmunskiLatasha Holloway of the Virginia Beach Coalition, Hannah “Mel” Borja of the Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis and Rev. Carlos Howard of the United Front For Justice.

Latasha Holloway from the Virginia Beach Coalition, who recently successfully won a lawsuit against racially-gerrymandered city council at-large districts, addresses the rally.

Mayor Robert Dyer refused to address the workers directly, instead choosing to read out the rules of the meeting — including a note about speakers remaining “civil.”  Workers vowed to return to work to sign up their co-workers for the union, and to return soon to the City Council to keep the fight moving forward.

New Report: Collective Bargaining Advances Equity and Strengthens Families

A new report from the Commonwealth Institute took a look at wage rates and cost of living data for Virginia Beach, and recommends allowing collective bargaining for public employees. From the introduction:

Virginia Beach is a vibrant, diverse community where people choose to live and work together for better opportunities for all of us. Part of why so many people choose to make Virginia Beach home is its high quality public services, and city employees play a significant role in creating and maintaining those services. It is important that public servants are fairly paid and have a voice in their workplace. Allowing collective bargaining will allow city employees a formal voice to lift up ways to improve public services and build a more equitable workplace. In the end, that benefits every one of us.