Virginia Democrats File Legislation to Repeal Right to Work Laws
Teachers’ union backed legislators fulfill their promise to implement collective bargaining in 2026.
Fresh off their victory in the November election, Senator Jennifer Carroll Foy (D) just filed legislation to abolish all of Virginia’s right-to-work laws. Earlier this year far-left Virginia Delegate and Caucus Chair Kathy Tran claimed right-to-work laws were the "legacy of Jim Crow." (The extremist Tran previously sponsored legislation permitting a baby to be murdered as it was being born.)
In 2025, Tran sponsored legislation to force school boards and city and county governments into union agreements at the taxpayers' expense. Yet Tran exempted her own organization from her legislation. Her vetoed bill would've excluded "employees working for the legislature of the Commonwealth."
If the absence of collective bargaining is "akin to Jim Crow," why would Democrats exclude their own employees from the legislation?
Tran’s bill didn’t go far enough for Sen. Foy whose newly proposed legislation repeals all of Virginia’s right-to-work laws established in 1947.
In addition to prohibiting forced union membership in the private sector, right-to-work laws prohibit public employers like school districts and municipalities from forced "bargaining" with unions. Collective bargaining occurs when an employer enters into an agreement on certain issues with a group of employees represented by an organization such as a union. The issues up for negotiation might include salary, working hours, working conditions, vacation time, retirement benefits, and more.
The problem with collective bargaining in the public sector is that taxpayers are forced to subsidize those agreements. If a public body—such as a school board or city council—agree to higher wages and benefits, it comes out of the pockets of Virginia taxpayers.
Public Sector Unions are Unaffordable
In 2021, the Democrat-controlled Virginia legislature adopted laws that permitted local public bodies to enter into optional collective bargaining agreements. Several school districts across the state have since entered into agreements with teachers' unions—and it's proven extremely expensive for taxpayers.
Now Democrats want to remove the option altogether—making forced unionization a statewide requirement.
When Fairfax County undertook efforts to authorize collective bargaining, they set aside $1.6 million just in administrative costs to support the negotiations. This only included legal fees and administrative costs required just to begin the process. In 2021 when the city of Portsmouth was exploring administrative costs for collective bargaining, staff informed leaders that it would cost in the "range of $2 million annually." That was just administrative and legal fees; it didn't include the costs of meeting union demands.
Public unionization is always partisan and divisive. Over 90 percent of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson's 2023 campaign funding came from teachers' unions. Chicago schools are a disaster—not one child in 37 schools is proficient in reading or math. Yet Johnson continues to bow to his union overlords. Despite being a member of the Chicago Teachers' Union himself, Mayor Johnson inserted himself to help the union in negotiations with the school district.
While teachers' unions claim to be non-partisan, their expenditures prove otherwise. In 2024, the National Education Association, one of the country's biggest teachers' unions, gave over $2 million to federal candidates, 98 percent of whom were Democrats.
In 2025, the Virginia Education Association, the NEA's state arm, gave over $100,000 to Democrat political candidates and nothing to Republican candidates.
These union organizations seeking to take money out of the pockets of taxpayers are effectively a funding arm of the Democrat Party. In a recent meeting of the Virginia Beach School Board, it was clear that the Democrat members want collective bargaining to be forced onto localities by the state legislature. They praised collective bargaining, claiming it benefits teachers and staff and emphasized the importance of being able to negotiate salaries. The problem is collective bargaining negotiations is a one size fits all approach. It doesn't reward good employees; it gives all employees the same benefits no matter their performance. Taxpayers are then stuck with the bill to fund the increased salaries and benefits.
Government Unions are Ineffective
In Virginia Beach, the union is constantly complaining about teacher salaries. Starting pay for a first-year teacher right out of college working 200 days of the year is $56,000, that's $8,000 higher than the starting salary of a naval officer in the same community.
When I served on the Virginia Beach School Board, I spoke to teachers often. Very rarely did they complain about their salary. They were most upset by discipline problems and mountains of paperwork. When I pushed to get teachers help on these issues, the local union battled me.
Democrat union members that served alongside me on the board falsely claimed there were no discipline problems in schools. I ran for office as a Republican, and it was clear the union had no interest in collaborating with a conservative school board member. They fought me every chance they got, and it was clear unions only cared about being in control—not doing what was best for students or employees.
When it comes to public sector unions, they aren't troubled about the impact their decisions have on the community. Student performance in school is never a concern for teachers' unions nor is the impact of higher taxes on communities forced to pay for collective bargaining initiatives.
There is one bright spot. Thanks to the Supreme Court's ruling in Janus v. AFSCME (2018), public unions can no longer mandate employees pay dues. There are also questions regarding whether school boards in Virginia legally have the power to negotiate collective bargaining since they have no taxing authority.
Virginia Democrats aren't wasting any time pushing their extremist agenda. Get ready Virginians—forced collective bargaining will raise our taxes and divide our communities.
Victoria Manning is a Senior Investigative Researcher for Restoration News specializing in education freedom, immigration, and military issues. She is the author of Behind the Wall of Government Schools. Victoria served 8 years as an elected school board member and has a master’s degree in law. She also brings the perspective of a military spouse and mother to her reporting.
Republished with permission from Restoration News.
