Gov. Spanberger expected to veto collective bargaining bill

RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) - Gov. Abigail Spanberger is expected to veto a controversial bill that would expand collective bargaining rights for public sector employees.

Virginia Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell, and the co-sponsor of the bill, told 12 On Your Side Wednesday that Spanberger let him know her plans to veto it on Wednesday.

Spanberger previously proposed amendments to the bill, including giving localities until 2030 for it to go in affect. The General Assembly rejected those changes.

When asked about a veto on Wednesday, Spanberger said she’s repeated the same message in all her conversations about the collective bargaining bill.

“I have been clear in my desire to be a governor who signs that bill into law, but also clear in my mandate to get it right as the chief executive,” Spanberger said.

It’s a huge blow to labor unions, who have been staunch supporters of such legislation.

The Virginia Professional Fire Fighters wrote on social media that Spanberger “turned her back” on public sector employees.

“Since the very beginning of her campaign, we supported the Governor because of her past support of workers and her promise to correct the decades long issue of public sector collective bargaining. Her promises to us, and all workers, turned out to be hollow and nothing more than campaign rhetoric,” said Robert L. Bragg III, President of the Virginia Professional Fire Fighters.

Senate Republican Leader Ryan McDougle called it a “massive victory for Virginians.”

“Even Democrats were screaming from the rooftops that this would’ve delivered the single largest tax increase in Virginia history,” McDougle wrote.

Currently Virginia law states if localities allow it, their employees can collectively bargain. The proposed legislation would have made it so most public sector employees had a right to do so, including state employees.

Advocates of this argued workers would be able to negotiate things such as pay and working conditions, leading to happier employees who stayed longer.

It was met with worry, though, by elected officials on the local level over what the affects of this would be, especially those with existing collective bargaining contracts.

First reported by the Richmond Times Dispatch, Richmond Mayor Danny Avula sent a letter to the Governor’s office at the end of March, outlining those concerns.

“Anytime you are taking decision making away from a locality and moving it away from the state level, for example the establishment of this public employee relations board, where arbitration gets out of the local level and maybe gets decided by other players, that is concerning to a lot of localities.” Avula said last week when asked about the letter.

A few years ago, Richmond was at the forefront of establishing collective bargaining units. Those now cover teachers, police, firefighters and more. Mayor Avula said that process in the city will continue regardless of the pending bill.

“We’re coming up on a period where we’ve got to reengage those initial contracts that were negotiated,” Avula said.

The Governor’s office has still not confirmed a veto on the proposed legislation, but she did say on Wednesday she looks forward to future work so that when she signs the bill it is “durable.”