For the vast majority of the 78 years Virginia’s Right to Work law has been on the books, it has enjoyed overwhelming bipartisan support among the Commonwealth’s elected officials. This statute, which simply prohibits the termination of any employee for refusal to join or support a labor union, continues today to be overwhelmingly popular with ordinary voters.
A survey of Virginia’s likely voters, conducted in May by the nonprofit group Virginia FREE, found that 89% agree that workers should never be “forced against their will to join or pay dues to a union as a part of their job.”
Unfortunately, in recent years Democrat politicians in Richmond have ceased to care much that there is a strong consensus among their constituents that unionism should be voluntary.
In 2020, the last year with unified Democrat control over the governorship and both chambers of the General Assembly, then-Senate Majority Leader Richard Saslaw (D-Fairfax) introduced legislation that would have gutted Right to Work protections for Virginia employees.
The bill didn’t pass, but to current aspiring Democrat leaders like state Sen. Ghazala Hashmi (Richmond), the party’s 2025 nominee for lieutenant governor, that just means the time wasn’t ripe yet.
Having declared her “absolute” support for eliminating Right to Work earlier this year, Ms. Hashmi publicly predicted in June that the Virginia Right to Work destruction effort that began in 2020 would “continue” in 2026 if there is once again a Democrat trifecta in Richmond.
And while Democrat gubernatorial nominee and former U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger tries to hide her support for bringing back forced union fees as a job condition under the guise of “reform,” Virginians shouldn’t be fooled.
National Right to Work Committee Vice President John Kalb commented: “Let’s be clear. Just as a woman can’t be ‘a little bit pregnant,’ workers in a state can either be forced to pay union dues, or they can’t.
“As a congresswoman, Ms. Spanberger voted twice for the so-called ‘PRO’ Act, a bill that would have made forced union dues legal in every state, gutting Virginia’s Right to Work law. This May, she told WRIC-TV [ABC] in Richmond that tampering with Virginians’ Right to Work protections ‘may be necessary.’”
The very fact that Right to Work destruction is sure to be on the legislative table in Virginia next year if union-label Democrats prevail in this fall’s elections is deeply damaging to the Commonwealth’s credibility as a state that is reliably friendly to job-creating investments.
According to a thoroughly documented article published this March in the Journal of Banking and Finance, states increase their venture capital (VC) investment 68-82% by adopting Right to Work laws. Putting politicians in charge who are ready to toss this huge advantage away in order to please Big Labor will send an alarming signal to VC investors.
Mr. Kalb noted: “Across the U.S. as a whole, from 2014 to 2024, the number of employed people grew more than twice as fast, in percentage terms, in the 23 states that had Right to Work laws on the books the whole decade as in forced unionism states.
“And a recent analysis by the National Institute for Labor Relations Research shows that mean cost of living-adjusted household income, after factoring in combined state-local tax burdens, was roughly $3,300 higher in Right to Work states than in forced unionism states in 2023. Virginia’s mean cost of living- and tax-adjusted household income was more than $14,000 higher than the forcedunionism state average!
“Fortunately for citizens who recognize Virginia Right to Work protections are on the line this year and want to ensure they stay on the books and fully intact, there are many candidates running in November who have pledged to do everything they can to fight compulsory unionism if elected.
“At the top of the ticket, for example, Republicans Winsome Earle-Sears, John Reid, and Jason Miyares, respectively the 2025 nominees for governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general, have returned candidate surveys to the Committee committing themselves to 100% support for Right to Work.”
This article was originally published in our monthly newsletter. Go here to access previous newsletter posts.
To support our cause and help end forced unionism, go here to donate.
Business Item 60, vowing that the NEA would use the word “facism” whenever communicating about policies favored by the President and his many supporters, was just one of several highly controversial 2025 NEA resolutions.
Josh Hawley, who in 2018 promised freedom-loving Missourians to support Right to Work, is now sponsoring legislation to make it even easier for Big Labor to force employees to pay union dues, or be fired
“Union bosses publicly claim to support more apprenticeships in construction. But they do everything they can to keep the number of newly certified journeypersons to a minimum.”