I have used services like Veterans Guardian and am pleased with their results. It can be overwhelming to have to figure out the VA claims process on your own. These services may be essential for certain service members. Perhaps these services can still be available as a flat rate that a veteran can pay if benefits are rewarded. PLEASE don’t take away these services; veterans use these services by choice and are NOT forced to use them!

My understanding is there are discussions of putting forth regulations to make it more difficult to pursue veteran benefits. That seems outrageous to me, as it took me 6 years to finally finish my disability journey. It took 6 years, multiple claim submissions and 3rd party assistance to finally reach the disability rate I deserve. I hope this doesn't get put into effect at a state level so veterans coming after me can also get the benefits they deserve as well.

I am providing comments in support of HB 1911 and opposition to HB 2112. HB 1911 is designed to prevent predatory practices against our Veterans, which is currently commonplace at the State and National levels. The Veterans Service Officers (VDOs) go through a rigorous training and accreditation process and provide free services to our Veterans, while the same services provided by the sponsors of HB2112 may cost a Veteran in excess of $30000. As a retired Navy veteran who has utilized the VSO program, I can personally attest to the viability, efficiency, and professionalism of the VSO program. I am the current VFW Dept. of Virginia District 4 Commander. I regularly see Veterans, young and old, who need guidance concerning their disabilities and the claims process. HB2112 would allow these Veterans to be taken advantage of by predators who only seek to get monetary gain for services that are provided for free by organizations such as the VFW, American Legion, DAV and others who have accredited VSOs. Additionally, these same services can be found for free in many cities and small towns that have at least one VSO on site in their government buildings. Having said all of this, HB 1911 should be supported and enacted to ensure our Veterans can not be targeted by predatory firms or individuals. It is our responsibility to take care of those who have given so much for us. Please vote YES to HB 1911 and NO to HB2112. Sincerely, Mark Wilson Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States Department of Virginia Commander, District 4 (434) 738-7917 Mwilson0437@outlook.com Cdrdist4@vfwva.org

The JLC supports Delegate Sewell's bill to outright ban organizations from charging veterans for providing assistance in filing VA claims. Delegate Herring's competing bill bill (HB 2112), which the JLC does not support, would allow these organizations to collect renumeration for additional claim awards in perpetuity. This is unacceptable and must not be allowed.

The labor force is essential for continued growth and success within The Commonwealth. Worker's should be appropriately compensated with fair wages, accessible/affordable health care, safe work spaces, and financial security for their retirement. Please vote for legislation to help support hard working Virginians.

The labor force is essential for continued growth and success within The Commonwealth. Worker's should be appropriately compensated with fair wages, accessible/affordable health care, safe work spaces, and financial security for their retirement. Please vote for legislation to help support hard working Virginians.

The Virginia Association for Home Care and Hospice Opposes this legislation as introduced. Current reimbursement rates for agency directed personal care are so low that it is imposable to provide a sick leave benefit. We would support this legislation if it required DMAS to reimburse agency directed personal care for providing a sick leave benefit.

I urge the subcommittee to support HB1921. No one should have to work when sick and home health care workers working when sick puts themselves and the people they care for at risk. Please support sick leave for home health care workers and all workers to safeguard the health of all Virginians. Thank you.

Good afternoon Committee members, My name is Mel Borja and I am speaking on behalf of The Latin American Law Organization (“LALO”) at the UVA School of Law to express our support for House Bill 1980, which will help protect migrant farmworkers in the Commonwealth from heat illness. Members of our organization regularly participate in legal outreach efforts to farmworkers in Central Virginia during late summer. We are acutely aware of how heat illness is an increasingly pressing issue faced by migrant farmworkers in the Commonwealth. It is crucial that HB1980 supports regulatory development to protect these essential workers and provides a civil right of action to hold employers accountable. We respectfully ask that you vote in favor of the bill. Thank you.

Please do not support any of these three bills: HB 2089, HB 2495, and HB 2764. If passed, any of them will cause many problems for the vast majority of Virginia's citizens. We do NOT need collective bargaining in the Commonwealth. I am speaking from experience as a retired City of Virginia Beach employee with over thirty-three years of service. Thank you. Thomas K. Tillman

Vote NO to collective bargaining!! There is nothing good that will come from this!

The Virginia Association for Home Care and Hospice Opposes this legislation as introduced. Current reimbursement rates for agency directed personal care are so low that it is imposable to provide a sick leave benefit. We would support this legislation if it required DMAS to reimburse agency directed personal care for providing a sick leave benefit.

The Virginia Association for Home Care and Hospice Opposes this legislation. We believe it will place thousands of frail, disabled and elderly individuals in great harm by creating a collective bargaining unit. The goal of collective bargaining is called a collective bargaining agreement. This agreement is meant to establish rules of employment for a set number of years. It appears that this legislation is a forced unionization of home care workers. We know that union members pay for the cost of this representation in the form of union dues. The collective bargaining process may involve antagonistic labor strikes or employee lockouts if the two sides have trouble reaching an agreement. How does the authority reach a bargaining agreement when they do not have authority to appropriate state funds? What happens when your personal care aide goes on strike? You don’t receive needed care. Let us remember people receiving this care are nursing facility eligible. Are we going to temporarily put them in a nursing facility? Is the Virginia General Assembly prepared and willing to allow employee collective bargaining determine how state general funds are spent? Virginia’s Budget decision making process may not be perfect, but we call have the right to be heard. That will not happen if this legislation is enacted. Simply this is not good policy! Massachusetts currently has a similar structure to the one described in the legislation. It is not part of its Medicaid agency and it applies to consumer directed personal care only. In Massachusetts consumer directed personal care aide under this law are considered public employees. This has resulted in huge program cost growth making consumer directed personal care the highest per capita program in the country. There have been no improvements in oversight, reduction in fraud, waste and abuse has not improved. It has been about wages. The cost of waiver services cannot exceed the cost of institutional care which in most waiver would be nursing facility cost. This is a federal requirement. We estimate that Medicaid personal care rates fall short approximately $1.5 billion according to several recent rate studies. How does collective bargaining function when the state is at a loss for revenue? Dose this result in a tax increase on all Virginians? VAHC has been working with the General Assembly since in inception of Medicaid Personal care in the early 80s. While the system is flawed and rates have been suppressed for decades it is unclear how collective bargaining will solve these issues. Ultimately, collective bargaining will affect all home care workers, agencies and MOST importantly the person receiving care. We have tens of thousands of Virginians that pay out of their own pocket for in-home private duty personal care. At some point the cost of delivering this care will exceed the ability for many of these self-pay individuals to receive services. Some will go into a spend down situation and qualify for Medicaid, other will go without needed care resulting in hospitalization or even early death. Is this really the direction we want to go for Virginians? Please vote against the passage of this legislation.

Having worked in the health care industry for many years I can tell you that unions do not benefit the industry, unions are not about customer service, it's about control. Control over the very industries that employ their members in ordor to increase their coffers with membership dues. The first nursing home I worked in was a union required state facility, the patients barely had clothing, one patient I remember had a bedsore you could put your fist in, The next was a non union facility patients were well taken care of, had clothing, were well feed, had activities and physical and occupational therapy. They had another facility that was unionized and when they went on strike I became a SCAB thats' a person that crosses union lines. So while they were striking I was taking care of the patients . We were not under paid I made more money in the non union shop than the union shop and the customer service was far better. I never worked in another union shop again. While you can join a union if you want to Employers should NEVER be forced to collectiving bargain with them.

My understanding is there are discussions of putting forth regulations to make it more difficult to pursue veteran benefits. That seems outrageous to me, as it took me 6 years to finally finish my disability journey. It took 6 years, multiple claim submissions and 3rd party assistance to finally reach the disability rate I deserve. I hope this doesn't get put into effect at a state level so veterans coming after me can also get the benefits they deserve as well.

I am providing comments in support of HB 1911 and opposition to HB 2112. HB 1911 is designed to prevent predatory practices against our Veterans, which is currently commonplace at the State and National levels. The Veterans Service Officers (VDOs) go through a rigorous training and accreditation process and provide free services to our Veterans, while the same services provided by the sponsors of HB2112 may cost a Veteran in excess of $30000. As a retired Navy veteran who has utilized the VSO program, I can personally attest to the viability, efficiency, and professionalism of the VSO program. I am the current VFW Dept. of Virginia District 4 Commander. I regularly see Veterans, young and old, who need guidance concerning their disabilities and the claims process. HB2112 would allow these Veterans to be taken advantage of by predators who only seek to get monetary gain for services that are provided for free by organizations such as the VFW, American Legion, DAV and others who have accredited VSOs. Additionally, these same services can be found for free in many cities and small towns that have at least one VSO on site in their government buildings. Having said all of this, HB 1911 should be supported and enacted to ensure our Veterans can not be targeted by predatory firms or individuals. It is our responsibility to take care of those who have given so much for us. Please vote YES to HB 1911 and NO to HB2112. Sincerely, Mark Wilson Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States Department of Virginia Commander, District 4 (434) 738-7917 Mwilson0437@outlook.com Cdrdist4@vfwva.org

January 23, 2025 Members of the Labor and Commerce, Subcommittee #2 Honorable Delegates, I am David E Balducchi, retired from the U.S. Department of Labor, and currently on the Advisory Board of Social Action Linking Together. HB 2135 provides additional weekly benefits to eligible claimants in the amount of an allowance of $25 for each of up to three dependents. The bill requires any claimant declaring one or more dependents to provide proof of such dependents in a form and manner prescribed by the Virginia Employment Commission. This bill strengthens Virginia's prop-family policies. It is not based upon need, but the status of the individual relative to supporting essential expenses with raising dependent family members. Please support this bill that enhances traditional family life and structure. Thank you.

My name is Jonathan Wolfson and I am the Chief Legal Officer and Policy Director for Cicero Action, a nonprofit that works in states across the country to promote entrepreneurial solutions to difficult public policy problems. I also happen to be a Virginian, and am happy to support legislation that makes the Commonwealth a better place for workers and the businesses that hire them. Before joining Cicero, I had the privilege of serving at the US Department of Labor. I support HB2443 because it will allow businesses that contract with self employed workers to provide them with a mix of compensation that best meets the needs of the worker, without making the business treat the worker as an employee. There are millions of self-employed workers across the country and hundreds of thousands across the Commonwealth, and these workers cannot ask for compensation in the form of contributions to certain benefit plans because the businesses fear such contributions would trigger a finding that the business has mis-classified the worker. Despite the fact these self-employed business owners are fully aware of their status as non-employees of the business, the current law ties everyone's hands. HB2443 will allow workers to receive, and contracting businesses to provide, payments in the form of contributions to health insurance premiums, retirement accounts, and other flexible benefit plans. It does not obligate any business to provide such payments, but permits these payments if they are agreed upon by the self-employed worker and the contracting business. Virginia can be a national leader in the path to providing benefits workers can take between jobs, between gigs, and between roles by advancing HB2443. Worker flexibility is critical as our Commonwealth continues to build its 21st century workforce. I thank you for your time and am available for any questions.

Comments Document

Fighting for the protection of our nation’s flexible workforce is a key priority for our organization. Nearly half of all freelancers are women. Many women prefer to work independently to balance earning incomes with raising children, caregiving for aging parents, and managing their own health issues. We are pleased to support House Bill 2443 because it would meet the needs of independent contractors in Virginia, especially women, by unlocking portable benefits. These are hardworking men and women who choose to work independently rather than, or sometimes alongside, traditional employment. However, upwards of 40% of independent workers lack access to workplace benefits such as healthcare, disability, and retirement. Virginia would show great progress by building on previous efforts of this legislature and passing HB 2443 to expand portable benefits.

Comments Document

Dear Chair Ward, Vice Chair Herring, and members of the committee: My name is Liya Palagashvili. I am an economist and senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, and a member of the Data Users Advisory Committee for the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. I am a subject matter expert on portable benefits. My decade-long research on portable and flexible benefits for independent workers has motivated state legislative reforms over the past two years, and my written testimony attached shares some of those insights with you. In the attached written testimony, I cover the following issues: 1. Current laws in Virginia and across the United States restrict employers from providing independent workers with benefits, leaving a growing portion of the workforce without access to common workplace benefits; 2. Independent workers would benefit from increased access to benefits while maintaining the flexibility of their work arrangements; 3. Portable benefits reforms do not increase cases of misclassification. I hope you find this research helpful in your discussion of the merits of HB2443 and legalizing benefits for independent workers in Virginia. Best, Liya Palagashvili, Ph.D. Senior Research Fellow Director of Labor Policy Mercatus Center at George Mason University

Please do not support any of these three bills: HB 2089, HB 2495, and HB 2764. If passed, any of them will cause many problems for the vast majority of Virginia's citizens. We do NOT need collective bargaining in the Commonwealth. I am speaking from experience as a retired City of Virginia Beach employee with over thirty-three years of service. Thank you. Thomas K. Tillman

Vote NO to collective bargaining!! There is nothing good that will come from this!

Please do not mandate unions to collectively bargain for public employees. Theres a reason residents are leaving the high taxes states like New York Public services such as policing the streets and putting out fires gives government a monopoly. Collective bargaining is not about a seat at the table or customer service, it's about control. Unions work everyday to take control over the very governments that employ their members. They run up the cost of government, taxpayers are left out of the process while negoications take 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. There is a difference between private and public unions. the private sector has to compete in the market place to keep cost down, they could go out of business if customers choose to shop elsewhere, the public sector on the other hand has no such controls. While the private sector makes money, the public sector spends money they don't go out of business their only choice is to raise taxes or reduce services. Collective bargaining is adversarial you don't just sit down and negotiate a contract every 3 years. In between there are grievances, charges, labor disputes, disagreements on contract language. Unions work every day to gain power to exert control over the very governments that employs their members. They will take control over working shifts, hours, conditions, equipment; they will insist management needs to consult with them before implementing rules any of kind. Non-union employees will be given the worst assignments and shifts to convince them to join they also don't like voluteers as many of our EMS are. It's not about customer service Even though striking is not allowed Unions will threaten to walk out, "work the rule", call in sick or do work slowdowns. Didn't the teacher’s union keep schools closed for almost two years during Covid? The National Unions have years of experience our localities do not! Unions will insert language that benefits them not taxpaers or management into contracts like: Arbitration: taking decision making away from management puts a third party in control, terminations and even discipline can be overturned or Tenure, making it nearly impossible to fire a bad teacher as in NY. Organizational leave: so union members can attend union conferences, Fairfax County Public Schools paid $5.8 million in 2016 for “organizational leave” to teacher’s union officials. Access to employee information; a violation of privacy rights and loss of productivity as they will want to meet with employees during working hours. Automatic Payroll deduction of union dues and rules limiting when employees can decline paying them. An Evergreen clause, simply stated a contract stays in effect until a new one is agreed to, which gives them NO Incentive to come to the table during a financial crisis or recession. During a downturn in the economy Miami thought that and declare a financial crisis changing their union contracts, the police union sued them saying they hadn't fired non-unions employees, raised taxes or put in street cameras, their supreme court agreed. In 2008 Vallejo California tried for 2 years to negotiate with their unions they finally filed bankruptcy. During Covid the city of Cincinnati had to furlough over 1700 people, the unions would not agree to renegoiate their contracts.

OPPOSE Collective Bargaining Public services such as policing the streets and putting out fires gives government a monopoly. Collective bargaining is not about a seat at the table or customer service, it's about control. Unions work everyday to take control over the very governments that employ their members. They run up the cost of government, taxpayers are left out of the process while negoications take 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. There is a difference between private and public unions. the private sector has to compete in the market place to keep cost down, they could go out of business if customers choose to shop elsewhere, the public sector on the other hand has no such controls. While the private sector makes money, the public sector spends money they don't go out of business their only choice is to raise taxes or reduce services. Collective bargaining is adversarial you don't just sit down and negotiate a contract every 3 years. In between there are grievances, charges, labor disputes, disagreements on contract language. Unions work every day to gain power to exert control over the very governments that employs their members. They will take control over working shifts, hours, conditions, equipment; they will insist management needs to consult with them before implementing rules any of kind. It's not about customer service Even though striking is not allowed Unions in other localities are already threatening to walk out over what's in their ordinance to allow it. They will "work the rule", call in sick or do work slowdowns. Didn't the teacher unions keep schools closed for nearly 2 years during COVID? Unions insert language that benefits them not management into contracts like: Arbitration: taking decision making away from management puts a third party in control, terminations and even discipline can be overturned. It's demoralizing for those employees doing a great job while non performing emp;oyees are still employed, customer service becomes a downward spiral. Taxpayers will be paying for non government services like Organizational leave: so union members can attend union conferences, Fairfax County Public Schools paid $5.8 million for “organizational leave” to teacher’s union officials. Union will want Access to employee information; a violation of privacy rights and loss of productivity as they will want to meet with employees during working hours. Automatic Payroll deduction of union dues . An evergreen clause, simply stated a contract stays in effect until a new one is agreed to, which gives them NO Incentive to come to the table during a financial crisis or recession. Once you agree on a contract don't think that you will have control during a downturn in the economy Miami thought that when they declared a financial crisis changing their union contracts, the police union sued saying they hadn't fired non-unions employees, raised taxes or put in street cameras, their supreme court agreed. In 2008 Vallejo California tried for 2 years to negotiate with their unions they finally filed bankruptcy. During Covid the city of Cincinnati had to furlough over 1700 employees, the unions would not agree to renegoiate their contracts. The highest taxed states in the union have public employee unions, just say NO to collective bargaining

Paid family leave, across the board, would be incredibly beneficial to all families. In my case, I was not offered formal maternity leave of any kind and was unable to utilize FMLA because the company I work for is too small to be eligible. This meant that in order to have time off to recover from childbirth and bond with my newborn, I had to use my own PTO. I was fortunate enough to not need to take much sick time during my pregnancy so I was able to save those hours for my postpartum period, but many others are not that fortunate. And with all of the doctors appointments healthy newborns have, if someone has a baby that needs extra, they may not have any sick time left to take to care for their baby. In addition, I unfortunately suffered from mild postpartum depression. With needing to take my own sick time for my maternity leave, and needing to use that time to physically heal and learn to care for this new human, taking extra time to make sure that stayed under control was impossible. It is only that much harder for parents with more severe PPD or PPA. For a country that has been putting so much emphasis on a child's life and potential in recent years, the fact that we make it so hard for parents to care for that life is outrageous. Only 8 countries do not have paid family leave, and the U.S. is the largest country of those 8. Research shows that paid family leave has a positive impact on adult and child mental, physical, and financial health and yet, the United States is the only industrialized country without a national paid family leave policy. Our families deserve better. Our children deserve better.

There is evidence to support how important they paid leave is for birthing persons and their families. Please support the mother's needs and allow every single one to have paid medical leave. I have given birth to 2 children and I cannot comprehend making a mother choose to either (1) care for herself and baby without pay or (2) return to the workforce before she is healed and ready to do her job successfully. Please hear our concerns.

Comments Document

We are a family of 8. In August of 2024 we lost our 12 day old son after a two week stay in the NICU where he never woke up. Paid Family Medical Leave allowed my Husband and our family to stay together with him over the course of his short life. If we did not have access to Paid Family Medical Leave my husband would have had to return to work almost immediately and would have missed the most important time we were allowed to spend with our son. Prior to our loss in August of 2024, Paid Family Medical Leave also let us enjoy the birth and postpartum period after our daughters were born. Paid Family Medical Leave also allowed us to care for our children and our parents when they need us the most, whether it was during sickness, a heart bypass surgery, and cancer. Needless to say we actively support Paid Family Medical Leave and believe all people will benefit from this at some point in their lives. Please Support and Expand Paid Family Medical Leave!

Paid family leave is absolutely essential for not only the employer but also the employer. It allows employees to take time off work with pay to bond with a new child, care for a sick family member, or manage their own serious health condition, while still maintaining their job. It helps individuals balance work and family responsibilities without having to choose between their career and personal needs, which not only improves employee morale but also retention rates. Please do the right thing. Thank you for your consideration.

To Whom It May Concern: Paid family leave is important for many reasons including -better health outcomes for mothers and infants postpartum. Research shows lower rates of postpartum depression and improved breastfeeding rates. -stronger child-parent bonds. Allowing parents to take time to bond can have positive impacts on child development and family dynamics. -increased work production and economic benefit. For women, paid family leave will allow them to maintain their employment and return to work after having a child. This can will increase workforce participation that can contribute to economic growth. On a greater scale, having a society that supports women , babies, and families leads to a more healthy, less violent, stable society.

I am writing to urge the members of this committee to support HB 2531 - Del. Sewell. I’ve experienced new parenthood both with and without paid leave, and I can attest to the incredible burden that was lifted when I didn’t have to worry about maintaining a job while navigating all of the overwhelming concerns that come with caring for a new baby and recovering from giving birth. I never felt like I was able to properly mourn my stillborn daughter, partially due to the need to forgo paid work in the days and weeks after losing her. When my now 12 year-old daughter was born, I had no option but to quit my job, making me completely economically dependent on her father (thank goodness he is a kind person; not everyone is so lucky). My third pregnancy was the first time I had the benefit of paid leave. I was able to visit my youngest daughter every day during the excruciatingly long two weeks of her NICU stay, coming home every evening to care for her older sister after the school day. I have no idea how our family would have survived without paid leave; I needed to be in that NICU and we also needed to keep a roof over our heads, and we could not have provided both without my paid leave. Right now, during emergencies and other major life events, parents and caregivers are at the whims of their employers. We cannot ensure that we will be able to provide the essential needs our families rely on, unless we have the assurance of paid family leave in the Commonwealth.

Comments Document

TechNet's written remarks for the full committee are attached.

Comments Document

ATU Local 689 strongly supports this proposal. If enacted, it would finally ensure that transit workers are no longer able to be contracted out and treated as a permanent underclass of workers. For too long, private contractors have abused transportation services either by underbidding contracts or pocketing funds for themselves and not paying their workers living wages. Especially in jurisdictions with collective bargaining, it is time to make sure that frontline transportation workers are not treated as a "cost savings" in a race to the bottom for contractors. Please see our full written testimony for more.

Our members provide valuable transportation services to Virginia citizens and visitors, including persons with disabilities. This includes providing complementary services by contract with public transportation systems for persons with disabilities or in some cases for overflow or after-hours service. Ours are small businesses that typically operate with independent contractor drivers, and if the proposed statute were to apply to these services we would be unable to meet such requirements, depriving us of the opportunity to provide such services and those communities of the ability to utilize those services to meet critical transportation needs. If the bill is to proceed, we urge its amendment to clarify that it exempts such complementary or supplementary services. We believe that this is consistent with the definition of public transportation systems and the intent of the legislation.

Comments Document

TechNet's written remarks on HB 2619 are attached.

Comments Document

ATU Local 689 highly supports HB2619. The bill would finally ensure that transit contractors are providing quality services to the riding public, honestly bidding on contracts, and treating their employees with the respect they have earned. If passed, the bill would further guarantee that in jurisdictions with collective bargaining, contracted transit workers would no longer be treated as a permanent underclass of labor.

Public sector workers in VA are currently denied the right to bargain collectively and have a say in their own working conditions. Not only does this harm workers, who make significantly lower wages and salaries than their private sector counterparts, it harms our public sector institutions. Schools, universities, transit organizations, firefighters, city governments, and more are not able to recruit or retain the best people to do their vital work. As a university employee, I care deeply about the services I provide to our students and community, and I know my colleagues do too. However, it is to provide a high level of service when my colleagues are commuting over an hour because they can't afford to live where they work; are not paid on time because they don't have an enforceable contract; or are afraid of losing their jobs due to capricious decisions by university administrators. Collective bargaining allows public sector workers to have a seat at the table to improve their own working conditions and improve the institutions they work at. These institutions are vital to the continued functioning of our commonwealth, and collective bargaining is the next necessary step to take.

Please do not support any of these three bills: HB 2089, HB 2495, and HB 2764. If passed, any of them will cause many problems for the vast majority of Virginia's citizens. We do NOT need collective bargaining in the Commonwealth. I am speaking from experience as a retired City of Virginia Beach employee with over thirty-three years of service. Thank you. Thomas K. Tillman

Vote NO to collective bargaining!! There is nothing good that will come from this!

Please do not mandate unions to collectively bargain for public employees. Theres a reason residents are leaving the high taxes states like New York Public services such as policing the streets and putting out fires gives government a monopoly. Collective bargaining is not about a seat at the table or customer service, it's about control. Unions work everyday to take control over the very governments that employ their members. They run up the cost of government, taxpayers are left out of the process while negoications take 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. There is a difference between private and public unions. the private sector has to compete in the market place to keep cost down, they could go out of business if customers choose to shop elsewhere, the public sector on the other hand has no such controls. While the private sector makes money, the public sector spends money they don't go out of business their only choice is to raise taxes or reduce services. Collective bargaining is adversarial you don't just sit down and negotiate a contract every 3 years. In between there are grievances, charges, labor disputes, disagreements on contract language. Unions work every day to gain power to exert control over the very governments that employs their members. They will take control over working shifts, hours, conditions, equipment; they will insist management needs to consult with them before implementing rules any of kind. Non-union employees will be given the worst assignments and shifts to convince them to join they also don't like voluteers as many of our EMS are. It's not about customer service Even though striking is not allowed Unions will threaten to walk out, "work the rule", call in sick or do work slowdowns. Didn't the teacher’s union keep schools closed for almost two years during Covid? The National Unions have years of experience our localities do not! Unions will insert language that benefits them not taxpaers or management into contracts like: Arbitration: taking decision making away from management puts a third party in control, terminations and even discipline can be overturned or Tenure, making it nearly impossible to fire a bad teacher as in NY. Organizational leave: so union members can attend union conferences, Fairfax County Public Schools paid $5.8 million in 2016 for “organizational leave” to teacher’s union officials. Access to employee information; a violation of privacy rights and loss of productivity as they will want to meet with employees during working hours. Automatic Payroll deduction of union dues and rules limiting when employees can decline paying them. An Evergreen clause, simply stated a contract stays in effect until a new one is agreed to, which gives them NO Incentive to come to the table during a financial crisis or recession. During a downturn in the economy Miami thought that and declare a financial crisis changing their union contracts, the police union sued them saying they hadn't fired non-unions employees, raised taxes or put in street cameras, their supreme court agreed. In 2008 Vallejo California tried for 2 years to negotiate with their unions they finally filed bankruptcy. During Covid the city of Cincinnati had to furlough over 1700 people, the unions would not agree to renegoiate their contracts.