Loudoun County supervisors are set to make a decision on recognizing unionized public employees on Tuesday, April 20.
A state law going into effect on May 1 allows local governments to recognize public employee unions, and the county board plans to be ready for that law when it goes into effect. The law will allow public employees to petition the local government for a vote, but does not let them force collective bargaining—the local governing body would then hold a vote to decide whether to recognize the union, and if so, what sort of discussions to have with them. Doing so also requires the board to adopt a local ordinance.
Supervisors plan to have an ordinance ready in May, anticipating a possible petition from their employees. They are faced with a vote April 20 on what form that will take, and several supervisors—especially County Chair Phyllis J. Randall (D-At Large)—have already said they support recognizing a union. The Board of Supervisors has already approved eight new positions to support collective bargaining.
One option is traditional collective bargaining, which would see a recognized union bargain on behalf of employees. The ordinance would set forth what topics are open to negotiation with the union. A staff report prepared for the Tuesday meeting notes the overall cost of collective bargaining—including both the staffing to support it, and any agreements reached with the union—will depend on the local ordinance and the results of those future negotiations. Staff members also estimate it could require hiring four more positions.
The second option is meet-and-confer, which would see county officials meet with a union for talks, but would not grant the union any formal bargaining power.
Supervisors could also back off the union discussion for now, not passing any ordinance. Under state law, if they then receive a qualifying petition from county employees, they will have 120 days to decide whether to recognize a union, possibly restarting the discussion.
Finally, they could send the question to the May meeting the board’s finance committee.
Already, many Loudoun government workers are members of unions. The Service Employees International Union Virginia 512 counts more than 200 Loudoun County employees among its members, and the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689 is currently fighting to stop a new county contractor from taking away benefits from transit workers.
The county School Board, following the Board of Supervisors’ vote to not fully fund its adopted budget, is planning to cut the creation of a new collective bargaining unit, at least until a formal request is made. That reduction is expected to save $1.9 million in FY 2022.
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April 17, 2021 at 01:29AM
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