Folks,
Greetings from the Burgh, where we are tracking a series of Democratic betrayals of the labor movement happening across the country.
Virginia Dem Governor Vetoes Collective Bargaining Expansion Bill
Last fall, Democrat Abigail Spanberger was elected Governor of Virginia with the heavy support of organized labor. Now, many labor leaders are crying betrayal when Spanberger indicated that she would veto a bill to expand collective bargaining rights for many state and local workers.
The bill would have granted collective bargaining rights to all state employees. It would also grant collective bargaining rights to municipal employees, who currently have to get approval from their municipal government before being granted the right to collective bargaining.
The bill would have taken the power to grant collective bargaining rights away from municipalities. Currently, each municipality is allowed to determine which subjects unions can bargain on. The bill was passed by Virginia Democrats and would have created a Public Employee Relations Board and a uniform set of collective bargaining rights for public employees throughout Virginia
Instead, Spanberger vetoed the bill, saying she wanted to delay its implementation until 2030. She also wanted to remove provisions that would have forced local municipalities and school districts to agree to binding arbitration when they could not reach a first contract. Finally, Spanberger objected to the appointment of two union members to the Public Employees Relations Board.
Her veto today outraged many in the labor movement.
“Governor Spanberger campaigned on the promise to end this historic injustice, but she has broken that promise by vetoing legislation that would have finally granted most state and local workers the freedom to collectively bargain,” said national AFSCME President Lee Saunders in a statement. “The landmark collective bargaining legislation, passed by pro-worker champions in the General Assembly, would have empowered more than half a million public service workers with the freedom to negotiate and to strengthen the public services that communities across the commonwealth depend on.”
The Virginia Public Sector Labor Coalition also slammed Spanberger's veto.
“It is Orwellian for the governor to suggest that she supports collective bargaining rights while introducing a version of the bill that delayed extending those rights to local workers until the next decade, inserted a killswitch into the bill that would have effectively allowed a future governor to end collective bargaining without a single vote from the General Assembly, and took workers’ rights in Virginia backwards by weakening existing collective bargaining agreements and reducing worker protections across the commonwealth,” the group said in a statement.
For more on the veto, check out Courthouse News Service.
Chicago Dems Delay Phase Out of Tipped Minimum Wage
Back in March, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, a member of the Chicago Teachers’ Union, vetoed a bill passed by the City Council that would delay the phase-out of the tipped minimum wage in the city until 2028. The measure would have increased minimum wage for restaurant workers to $12.62-an-hour while allowing them to continue to collect tips.
However, yesterday, the City Council passed a measure changing the phase-in of the requirement until 2028.
“I don’t know if workers are going to read the news this evening and be happy,” said Chicago Alderman Jesse Fuentes, who sponsored the original legislation.
For more, check out the Chicago Tribune.
LA Dems Delay $30 Min Wage for Hotel & Airport Workers
As part of a condition to fund the massive investment needed for the LA Olympics, LA City Council Democrats passed a measure that would raise the minimum wage for hotel and airport workers to $30-an-hour by 2028.
Now, the City Council by 9-6 passed a measure that would delay the provision until 2030. The vote comes as a business coalition announced that they had enough signatures to hold a ballot referendum to cut taxes in the city. The business coalition promised not to submit the ballot initiative, which would worsen the city’s budget troubles, if the minimum wage hike was reversed.
"We're talking about some of the lowest paid workers in one of the most expensive cities in America," LA City Council member Eunisses Hernandez told the LAist. "This motion sends a terrible message that corporate pressure matters more than workers' lives."
Colorado Dem Governor to Veto Pro-Union Measure Again
Finally, in Colorado, Democratic Governor Jared Polis has indicated that he intends to veto a measure that would give private sector members full collective bargaining rights. Under an arcane Colorado law, union organizers are required to win one union representation election and then win a second union election with at least 75% before they are allowed to collectively bargain over union security language.
In 2025, Polis vetoed a similar measure and has vowed to veto it again. Labor leaders and their allies have blasted Polis.
“When workers decide to form a union, that decision ought to be respected every single time,” said State Senator Julie Gonzales, who is a sponsor of the bill. “That second election does not protect workers. It gives corporate ownership more time to delay, intimidate and divide.”
For more, check out the Colorado Sun.
Help Hold Democrats Accountable to Unions
While many liberals are cheerleading Democrats ahead of the 2026 election, the betrayals of union causes in Virginia, Colorado, Chicago, and LA show that organized labor is still going to have to fight Democrats.
News & Headlines Elsewhere
- Immigration group says federal agents raided volunteers' homes
- 65% of workers have avoided using AI for moral, environmental, privacy, or other reasons: CNBC survey
- West Virginia beer delivery workers strike over ‘unfair’ working conditions
- San Diego MTS minibus services disrupted by strike
- Six years later, COVID symptoms linger for many Latino farmworkers
- Alabama prison inmate healthcare workers say they haven't been paid in weeks
- Portugal government presses ahead with labor reform bill opposed by unions
- U.K. and French unions join forces to protest long hours in entertainment industry
- Finally, Trump promised to hold 30,000 migrants at Guantanamo. A year later, it's mostly empty.
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