Republicans seek to cement Virginia's status as a right-to-work state

RICHMOND, Va. (CN) — Republican lawmakers announced plans Tuesday to reintroduce a ballot measure that would codify Virginia’s status as a right-to-work state.

“We’re talking about job creation because if we lose the right to work, they are going to go to other states,” Republican Lt. Governor Winsome Sears said at a press conference.

Virginia already has a statute banning employers from requiring union membership. The measure introduced by state Senator Mark Obenshain and Delegate Chad Green would add the law to the state constitution, making it harder for future lawmakers to overturn it. Legislators can overturn statutes, but only voters can remove amendments from the state constitution.

“This is important in maintaining our position as the state in America to do business,” Obenshain said. “I expect that this will come up for a vote sometime in the next week or two, and we’ll have an opportunity to see where Virginia’s legislators stand on enshrining the right-to-work law in the constitution of Virginia and making sure that it remains one of the primary tools in our toolbox to attract businesses to Virginia.”

The measure faces an uphill battle as it must pass through the Democratic-controlled General Assembly. The resolutions to change the state’s constitution must be passed in two sessions. If the amendments pass in 2025 and 2026, voters will have their say during the 2026 election. Control of the legislature may change as every seat in the House of Delegates is up for election in 2025.

Virginia rejected adding a right-to-work amendment in 2016 by over 270,000 votes.

“In 2016, the voters of Virginia overwhelmingly defeated that constitutional amendment,” Doris Crouse-Mays, president of the Virginia chapter of the American Federation of Labor & Congress of Industrial Organizations, said in a statement. “We should be focusing on things that benefit workers, like raising the minimum wage and giving all public service workers the freedom to collectively bargain."

Obenshain sounded optimistic that he could convince enough Democrats to support the amendment.

“I believe that there are Democrats in the Senate of Virginia and the House of Delegates who believe that the right-to-work law is the right thing for the Commonwealth of Virginia," Obenshain said at a press conference. “I hope that all of them will embrace this and endorse it and that this winds up being an issue that we can foster some bipartisan cooperation on.”

Right-to-work laws ensure that union membership and dues are voluntary and that private sector employees’ ability to maintain or obtain a job is not dependent on whether they are part of a union.

Although 27 states, including Texas and Wisconsin, have right-to-work laws, only 10, including Tennessee and Oklahoma, have connected the right to their constitutions. States without right-to-work laws, like California and New York, tend to vote for Democrats in presidential elections.

Sears supported the amendment, arguing that employees like her father should keep their wages rather than pay union dues.

“My father came to America with only $1.75 in his pocket,” Sears said. “He needed every dime that he worked hard for so that he could start this new life in America.”

Sears, who is running for governor this year, used the opportunity to contrast herself with Democratic front-runner and congresswoman Abigail Spanberger. Spanberger backed a bill in Congress that would have overridden Virginia’s right-to-work law.

Spanberger did not respond to a request for comment, but Democratic Delegate Jeion Ward, the chair of the labor and commerce committee, rebutted the Republican announcement.

“Let’s call this what it is: an attack on hardworking Virginians and the unions that ensure dignity and respect in the workplace,” Ward said. “As a 35-year member of the AFT, I’m proud that Democrats remain laser focused on attracting, retaining, and strengthening the jobs that form the backbone of our economy.”

Brian Peyton, president of Teamsters Local 322 in Richmond, said that unions’ essential benefit is giving employees access to a dispute resolution system. Peyton and other union advocates dismiss the term right-to-work as a misnomer.

“What it means is it’s going to put, for lack of a better term, I think, some integrity into the process,” Peyton said in an interview. “If you’re going to fire somebody or take disciplinary action in that stuff, then let’s ensure that it’s all done the correct way.”

Sears claimed that the amendment is not anti-union but rather pro-employee choice. Peyton argued that any law allowing employers to employ non-union employees is anti-union.

“Those who seek to prevent workers access to unions have demonstrated by their actions that they understand the power of a collective voice,” Peyton said. “Moreover, they fear it, and that is why they seek to subjugate workers by denying them access to collective bargaining.”

Peyton pointed to history professor Michael Pierce at the University of Arkansas, who studies the intersection between right-to-work laws, racism and antisemitism.

“It is worth remembering that so-called right-to-work laws originated as means to maintain Jim Crow labor relations and to beat back what was seen as a Jewish cabal to foment a revolution,” Pierce wrote in a 2017 op-ed. “The current push for right-to-work in Kentucky and Missouri (along with the fueling of nativism) does something similar — it is an attempt to persuade white working people that unions and racialized others are more responsible for their plight than the choices made by capital.”