Posts tagged Abigail Spanberger
Va. leaders sound alarm on collective bargaining bill: ‘It will bankrupt local government’
February 13, 2026 // “This new bill wants to mandate collective bargaining and mandate what's called binding arbitration, which forces districts to pay a salary based on some unelected person who's an arbitrator who tells us what we have to do,” said School Board Chairman Babur Lateef. “And we don't agree with that. We don't believe that should be done for any school division in the state or any locality. We believe local governments should have the right to choose whether they want to collectively bargain or not, and it shouldn't be mandated. The current bill, as it stands, doesn't fund the mandate, so the state wants to mandate it, but they don't want to pay for it. If this bill passes, it will be the single largest tax increase in Virginia history, because all of the responsibility for these payments and salaries will be on the localities, local taxpayers, property taxes, and everyone in communities, and it will bankrupt local governments and bankrupt school divisions.”
New Bill Would Allow Virginia Public Workers to Unionize
February 11, 2026 // The legislation was previously vetoed by former Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin. He argued the bill would impede the government’s ability to provide critical services and cost taxpayers millions each year.
‘Right to work’ unlikely to change much in Va. this year, union and business leaders agree
January 20, 2026 // Speaking at a Jan. 14 forum sponsored by Advance Arlington, Slaiman said a contentious fight over Virginia’s unionization framework would get in the way of more pressing priorities in a year when Democrats have control of the governorship and both houses of the General Assembly. “We’re not going to disrupt this [legislative] session. We’ve got too much of an agenda,” said Slaiman, whose union local represents 15,000 workers. Addressing right-to-work’s future “will come later,” he said.
Op-ed: About Right to Work, Will the Real Abigail Spanberger Please Stand Up
December 4, 2025 // Reforms that weaken Right to Work laws will make Virginia less attractive to employers—reducing job growth and increasing Virginians' cost of living. Governor-elect Spanberger should reassure Virginians that she opposes any legislation weakening her citizens' Right to Work because she understands that protecting worker freedom is central to her abundance agenda.
‘DRAG IS NOT A CRIME’: NJ Teachers Union Backing Sherrill to Celebrate ‘Queens’ After Election
November 3, 2025 // The New Jersey Education Association, which has 200,000 members as the Garden State’s chapter of the National Education Association, will host its annual convention on Nov. 6 and 7, two days after the gubernatorial election. At the convention, the NJEA Consortium—a union project undertaken with education and “social justice” organizations—will host a Friday event called “Drag is Not a Crime: The Past, Present, and Future of Drag.” The convention’s floor plan also includes a booth dedicated to the drag theme. The NJEA convention theme puts “learning” third—after “equity” and “justice.”
Commentary: Abigail Spanberger’s Record Shows She’d Bring Forced Unionism to Virginia, National Labor Expert Warns
November 1, 2025 // Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Committee, warned against Democratic gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger’s stance on Right-to-Work laws, stressing how Spanberger has consistently opposed Right-to-Work protections not only in the Commonwealth but across the country. During an appearance this week on The John Fredericks Show, Mix criticized Spanberger for her repeated votes in Congress to eliminate Right-to-Work protections nationwide, including her sponsorship of the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, a bill that would repeal Right-to-Work laws nationwide. Mix dismissed Spanberger’s vague comments about “reforming” Virginia’s Right-to-Work law as evasive, insisting that the issue is binary.