Virginia AFL-CIO Statement on Governor Spanberger’s Veto of Collective Bargaining Legislation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 14, 2026

Virginia AFL-CIO Statement on Governor Spanberger’s Veto of Collective Bargaining Legislation

Richmond, VA -- Today, Governor Abigail Spanberger turned her back on working people across the Commonwealth by vetoing legislation that would have finally guaranteed public sector workers the right to collectively bargain.

This veto is a devastating betrayal to the hundreds of thousands of public employees who have spent years, and in many cases decades, fighting for a seat at the table. Teachers. Firefighters. Home care workers. State employees. Public servants who are the pillars of our communities and who keep Virginia running through crisis after crisis, only to be told yet again that their voices do not matter.

Virginia’s labor movement will not forget this moment.

Governor Spanberger campaigned publicly and privately on promises to affordability, to support working families and respect workers’ rights. We all took those promises seriously. Because of that, we believed we finally had a Governor who understood the dignity of work and the importance of collective bargaining rights.

Instead, when presented with the opportunity to make history and deliver on those promises, she chose to side with fear, political calculation, business, and the same anti-worker arguments that have been used for generations to deny workers power in Virginia.

What makes this veto even more shameful is that the Virginia General Assembly stood firm with us, while she fought against.

Even after Governor Spanberger attempted to weaken and gut the legislation through a substitute, Democratic majorities in both the House and Senate unanimously rejected those changes and sent the bill back to her desk in its original form. They did the right thing. They listened to workers. They honored their commitments. And they showed courage in the face of immense political pressure. 

The Virginia AFL-CIO thanks Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell, Delegate Kathy Tran, and every member of the House and Senate Democratic caucuses who stood shoulder to shoulder with working people in this fight. However, despite all the good work they did, the Governor’s veto of this bill will truly create an existential crisis for the party’s brand both nationally and in Virginia. 

This legislation was not radical. It was not unreasonable. It simply would have guaranteed public employees the basic freedom to negotiate over wages, benefits, and working conditions — rights already enjoyed by workers in much of the country. 

For generations, Virginia’s ban on public sector collective bargaining has been a stain on our Commonwealth and deeply rooted in a history of denying workers, particularly Black workers, power and dignity on the job. Workers have waited 78 years for Virginia to move forward. Today, Governor Spanberger chose to drag Virginia backward.  Every public worker in Virginia will remember who stood with them and who abandoned them when it mattered most. 

Let us be absolutely clear: this fight is not over. Working people built this movement long before this Governor took office, and this veto will not end it.

The Virginia AFL-CIO remains unwavering in our commitment to winning full collective bargaining rights for every worker in the Commonwealth. We will continue organizing. We will continue mobilizing. We will continue holding elected officials accountable regardless of party or title.

Workers deserved courage from this Governor. Instead, they got a veto.

And Virginia workers will not forget it. 

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