Governor Spanberger Double Crosses Workers with Veto of Bargaining Rights Bill

Silver Spring, MD - The Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) is slamming Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger for vetoing historic legislation which would have given half a million public workers in Virginia, including over 1,000 mass transit workers, the right to unionize.

"While on the campaign trail, Governor Spanberger invoked her grandfather's union membership to claim that she was one of us. She has since shown us her true colors. When it really counted, history will reflect that Governor Spanberger stabbed us in the back," said ATU International President John Costa. "The Governor had an opportunity to repudiate union-busting in Virginia by passing this legislation and giving workers and their unions a foothold where there was none before. Instead, she has shamefully shown that when the choice has to be made, she will not hesitate to double-cross us."

In multiple jurisdictions across Virginia, supermajorities of transit workers have signed union cards to join the ATU, but their local governments have refused to honor their will to join a union. The Governor had a chance to right this wrong and guarantee these hard-working public servants the same union rights that millions of other workers across the country enjoy.

Governor Spanberger claimed in bad faith that the collective bargaining bill went too far and didn't accommodate the concerns of a group of mayors who have always opposed union rights. If she was truly interested in promoting a collaborative bill, however, she would have worked with the legislature and raised her concerns during the drafting process. Instead, she withheld such feedback, and after the legislature moved the bill forward, she chose to gut the measure by sending back a weak substitute bill to the legislature.

The ATU applauds the rest of the Democratic caucus for fighting to bring this legislation to the Governor's desk in the first place, particularly co-sponsors Senator Surovell and Delegate Tran. "Spanberger's veto is a setback to these unorganized workers who currently have few rights on the job," Costa continued. "This will not be the end of this saga. However, the ATU and the rest of the labor movement will continue to organize and fight for union rights in the Commonwealth of Virginia."