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.

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

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.