Contrary to popular misconception, collective-bargaining
rights and right-to-work laws are not the same thing. Collective bargaining
rights dictate whether employers must, may, or cannot recognize an employee
organization as a union or bargaining agent. Teachers are always free to
organize but if employees want to negotiate a binding contract (also called a
collective-bargaining agreement, or CBA) with their employer, the employer must
recognize them as a union and enter into a CBA. Fourteen states leave the
decision up to the district, and five states prohibit collective bargaining in
education. Virginia is currently one of those five that prohibit it totally.
The second part of collective bargaining are the laws that
determine the scope of bargaining (the provisions that must, may, or cannot be
a part of any binding contract). In some states, these laws stipulate that base
wages, hours of employment, and terms and conditions of employment (things like
teacher leave, class size, and extracurricular duties) must be bargained. But
laws may also explicitly prohibit some items such as teacher evaluations,
discipline procedures, dismissals, layoffs, performance pay, transfers and
reassignments, and the length of the school year. Determining the scope of your
bargaining power is important and something we will need to dig into if we are
able to repeal the ban on collective bargaining in the Commonwealth.
Right-to-work laws stipulate that no union can require
membership as a condition for employment. These laws also dictate that should
employees choose not to be members, the union cannot charge them involuntary
agency fees in lieu of membership dues. A
state that requires collective bargaining can also be right-to-work.
For public sector employees like school employees, the Janus
decision in 2018 made Right to Work moot. The Janus ruling declared
that, for public sector employees, compulsory union membership, or any agency
fees paid to the recognized bargaining unit, were unconstitutional. Repealing
Right to Work in Virginia would not change that. But repealing Right to Work
would strengthen unions in Virginia, and that would be good for public sector
unions even as we operate under the Janus ruling.
