NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — The Newport News City Council has approved collective bargaining for city employees, giving them the ability to potentially more directly negotiate pay, health benefits, and contract language.
Dr. James Graves, a teacher at Denbigh High School, said the approval is a welcome development.
"It's not all about the money. It's about workstation safety. It's about treating people with respect," Graves said.
Graves is also president of the Newport News Education Association. He said collective bargaining would give employees more clarity around their responsibilities outside of work hours.
"With collective bargaining you have a detailed description of what you don't have to do after contract hours and what you should be doing," Graves said.
For the ordinance to take effect for school employees, the school board will also have to opt in.
The ordinance is the result of a 2020 law in Virginia that gave local governments the ability to opt in to collective bargaining. The city of Portsmouth previously approved collective bargaining but has never implemented it.
Separately, this year Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger vetoed a bill that would have required local and state governments to meet with employees.
Adrian Manning, a retired Newport News firefighter and president of the Newport News Firefighter's Association, said collective bargaining will help ensure certain policies remain in place as city leadership changes over time.
"If any of those parties change and the next round of folks coming in want to make cuts or anything like that, a collective bargaining agreement would kind of keep locked in what we've already achieved," Manning said.
"I'm pretty proud and happy that it got passed," Manning said.
To allow more time to work out the details, the ordinance is not scheduled to take effect until 2028.
"There is still a lot of discussions on how we're going to proceed and what we're going to actually be bargaining for when the time comes to negotiate an agreement," Manning said.
City employees at the meeting expressed support for the council taking this first step.
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