Richmond – Virginia Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell has confirmed that Governor Spanberger told him that she will be vetoing collective bargaining legislation passed by the General Assembly. The legislation would have repealed Virginia’s ban on collective bargaining by public service workers, including teachers, firefighters, nurses, and home health care workers, and given them the right to negotiate for fair wages and safe working conditions.
“Governor Spanberger spent her campaign talking about affordability and standing with working people. But now, when workers needed her to actually deliver on those promises, she folded,” said Ashleigh Crocker, Interim Executive Director of Progress Virginia. “First, she tried to water this bill down with amendments that would have carved out some workers and handed employers an escape hatch. Then when lawmakers refused to gut the bill for her, she told its sponsors she would veto it outright. This is a betrayal of the teachers, nurses, sanitation workers, and public employees she promised to fight for. One in five workers in Virginia are employed in the public sector, and Governor Spanberger just told all of them that their voices matter right up until corporate interests and political convenience get involved. With this veto, working people have every reason to question whether she ever intended to stand with them at all.”
Background:
- This year, the General Assembly passed HB1263 and SB378, which repealed the Jim Crow-era prohibition on public sector collective bargaining.
- The General Assembly banned public agencies from recognizing unions in response to Black nurses at UVA Hospital organizing in 1946.
- Governor Spanberger sent back amendments that excluded more categories of workers, delayed enactment of the bill, and significantly weakened other major provisions.
- Those amendments were rejected by the General Assembly, which meant that Governor Spanberger could either accept the original bill or veto it.
- About 20% of Virginia workers are public sector workers, and both their real wages and their ability to get a raise lag behind their private-sector counterparts.
- In the 2025 gubernatorial election, more than half of Virginia voters said the economy was the primary driver of their vote, with an additional 21% citing health care costs and access as their main reason for voting.
- After winning her election by 15 points, Governor Spanberger’s approval rating has dropped precipitously; it stood at 47% in early April, 13 points below the average for Virginia governors.