My name is Greg Mourad, and I am Vice President of the National Right to Work Committee. I am here to speak against House Bill 1263, which would force all Virginia public employees under union monopoly control. It’s just plain wrong for workers to be forced under union monopoly control as a condition of working in public service. Under exclusive representation, better termed monopoly bargaining, individual workers lose the ability to choose their own representation -- this is a right even a convicted criminal retains. But in addition to imposing union monopoly representation on public employees, this bill will also undercut the people’s elected representatives’ responsibility to set a budget, while closing out the public from the decision-making process. Indeed, that’s exactly what the U.S. District Court said in upholding North Carolina’s law banning public sector bargaining. The court ruled: “[T]o the extent that public employees gain power through recognition and collective bargaining, other interest groups with a right to a voice in the running of the government may be left out of vital political decisions.” And monopoly bargaining gives public employee union bosses a second bite at the apple that’s completely unique among all stakeholders. They not only can lobby and electioneer like anyone else, but under this bill union bosses can by law bind the government in contracts. Meanwhile, regardless of any legal prohibition, passing this bill opens the door to public employee strikes -- since 2023 we’ve seen illegal walkouts everywhere from Clark County, Nevada to Fresno, California to four school districts in Massachusetts. And the fact is, this legislation will be a disaster for Virginia taxpayers. Years ago, the Heritage Foundation found that public sector monopoly bargaining costs the average family of four as much as $3,000 in taxes per year in states that have passed it for all government workers. Meanwhile here in Virginia, Loudoun County schools had to hire thirteen new staff and increase spending by $3.3 million just to implement monopoly bargaining. This bill would repeat those costs in county after county, town after town, in places that have rejected bargaining due to the cost. Meanwhile, the people’s elected representatives will lose flexibility to make needed changes the next time there’s a recession. These are all big reasons why even many strong proponents of monopoly bargaining in the private sector have opposed public sector bargaining. For example, Franklin Roosevelt wrote in 1937 to the National Federation of Federal Employees, “all Government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service.” It’s wrong for workers, wrong for taxpayers, and harmful to our representative form of government. I urge you to kill this bill or anything like it.

Dear Members of House Commerce and Labor, Subcommittee #2 As the lobbyist for Prince William County Schools, I am submitting the following comments in opposition to HB 1263, at least as it relates to public schools of the Commonwealth. More specifically, PWCS opposes the following provisions: [at line 673] § 40.1-57.12. Determination of appropriate bargaining unit At Section D.1., PWCS does not believe that principals and assistant principals should be represented as a bargaining unit. As such, these positions represent a high level of management just below the school board and superintendent and, thus, should not be part of the collective bargaining arrangement. 40.1-57.16. Negotiation and impasse procedures [at line 673] Section A.4. This provision requires the parties to submit to binding arbitration. PWCS submits that this provision, as it relates to public schools, is unconstitutional in that it requires the elected school board to delegate its responsibilities vested in it under Article VIII, Section 7 of the Virginia Constitution. Further, a school board has no power to levy taxes in Virginia and is therefore wholly dependent upon state and local funding over which it has very little control, if any. As a result, it may lack the ability to fund a binding award made by an arbitrator. [at line 680] Section A.5. This provision restricts the arbitrator’s finding to either the final offer of the employer or the employee organization, and nothing in between. Since at line 740, the terms of an agreement remain in effect until superseded by a new agreement, there is no incentive for the employee organization to submit a reasonable final offer. Thank you for your consideration. Jim Council 804.347.0503

Hi my name is Sean Cassar, I live in District 80. I am the labor co-chair for the Richmond chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America and appear before you today to read a letter from our members who are state employees: As state employees, we are excited about the collective bargaining rights proposed for public sector workers and greatly urge your support. This is a right that everyone deserves and that a majority of states provide. We want to thank the sponsors of this legislation, all those who worked to draft it and lobbied and organized for years to get to this moment. In anticipation of its success and in comparing this resolution to other states there are a few confusing sentences and unnecessary restrictions we’ve found. Before we start, we want to state plainly that we will support this bill in whichever form it appears but take this opportunity to voice our concerns. First we are concerned with the language in §40.1-57.12. C which mandates the rigidity of cross department and agency bargaining units and ask that you provide more flexibility in the language for the bargaining units of state employees. With over 100 executive branch agencies and subagencies that the provisions apply to, it will be challenging to exercise the collective bargaining rights provided. Additionally, the Governor is not required to make appointments to the Public Employee Relations Board until October of 2027. This means it will be well over a year after the bill is effective before public workers can exercise collective bargaining rights. The delay is concerning as it also would delay our understanding of how to proceed with organizing on the ground. Lastly, the retention of the strike policy is disappointing. The best way for workers to protect their rights is by withholding our labor. The best way to avoid a strike is to bargain in good faith and not retaliate or infringe on labor rights. Further, with no language outlining investigation processes, this provision can and will be weaponized by management as we’ve seen happen on multiple occasions in Richmond Public Schools. We hope you consider our suggestions as this bill will affect the rights afforded to us, and we have exact language changes we recommend which some of you may have received already and can provide if you are interested. Again, we will support this bill in whichever form it appears but urge tightening up of language and expansion of rights. Thank you for your time and consideration.

I am a graduate worker in Engineering asking you to vote YES on HB 1263 to allow public sector workers to collectively bargain. Last year, a friend in another lab had an advisor who had to leave the department because he was not able to secure funding. Through no fault of her own, his student had to graduate on an accelerated timeline and had less than 6 months to complete what takes most students about 1-2 years. She also had to balance this with teaching (which is atypical for a student in their final year but necessary for her to be funded her last semester) and job searching. She was exhausted as a result of having to work around the clock to manage these responsibilities. Unfortunately, graduate workers being overloaded with teaching and research responsibilities during their final year has happened in at least three different departments during my time here. There is no way a graduate student can provide the best possible teaching for undergrads while exhausted and overworked. Collective bargaining for graduate workers would allow us to negotiate a contract that guarantees funding for the duration of the PhD. This would ensure that grad workers do not need to overwork themselves to graduate on an accelerated timeline in circumstances like these, while improving quality of education for students at Virginia's public universities.

The Virginia Association for Home Care and Hospice opposes this bill. Medicaid sets the reimbursement rates for personal care services. According to the Guide House report these services should be increased 42% to allow proper compensation for all staff working in this setting. Collective bargaining will not solve the underpayment issues or staff salaries.

Please Oppose this bill those of us from states like NY are familiar with the power and pitfalls of public sector collective bargaining. In the 1970s in New York State alone, there were, on average, 20 teacher strikes a year, and who doesn't remember the trash piled high on city streets as sanitation workers walked out. Think that can't happen here because the law makes strikes illegal? Think again, didn't the teacher’s union keep schools closed for nearly 2 years refusing to go back to in-person learning and in our city workers not pick up our trash in protest for "Hazardous duty pay?” Same in Wisconsin when Governor Walker signed legislation into law to limit collective bargaining to just wages, thousands of teachers called in sick and showed up at the captial building in protest, Collective bargaining is not about workers rights, it's about control. Collective bargaining with public-employee unions would mean taking some of the decision-making authority over government functions away from the people's elected representatives and transferring them to union officials, with whom the public has vested no such authority During a downturn in the economy New York was bailed out by the federal government after Governor Cuomo was prevented from getting concessions from the union by an amendment inserted into law for union contracts. New York was bailed out by the federal government after Governor Cuomo was prevented from getting concessions by an amendment inserted into law for union contracts. In Miami the police union sued after the city made changes to their union contract saying the city failed to raise taxes, lay off non-union workers and put in speed cameras. Vallejo, California filed bankruptcy after trying for 3 years to negotiate with unions. Allowing unions the ability to collectively bargain for employees increases the cost of government. Every dollar spent on administering union contracts is a dollar NOT spent on educating a child or providing city services. Please vote NO!