Prioritizing Public Workers: How Collective Bargaining Can Help Public Employees in Newport News Achieve an Equitable and Quality Workplace

Newport News is a diverse community filled with rich and unique history. The city is working to transform into a community where people can thrive, but city officials cannot do it alone. Public employees are essential to providing the services and resources necessary for the city to function, and they play an integral role in the city achieving its goals. Allowing collective bargaining for city employees will provide them an opportunity to advocate for improving public services and building a more equitable community. In the end, that benefits every one of us.

“One of my main concerns is that while the city wants to call us essential workers, they don’t want us to have a say in our working conditions or our pay. I’m helping to build this Union because we as workers can fight for better pay and working conditions when we stand together!”

Riccretia Clifton | Department of Public Works, Equipment Operator, Solid Waste City of Newport News

For public employees, one of the benefits of unions is increasing pay to levels that are closer to that which could be obtained in the private sector. Overall, public-sector collective bargaining tends to boost pay by 5% to 8%,³ and the fair and clear standards provided by unionization particularly help Black and Latinx workers.⁴ Women, who make up the majority of local government workers (especially in Virginia), would also particularly benefit from collective bargaining. This is important because past discrimination and ongoing barriers mean Black workers, Latinx workers, and women of all races are still typically paid less than white men with the same level of education and experience in both public- and private-sector employment.

Having the right to collectively bargain over pay and working conditions shrinks public-sector pay penalties, although it does not eliminate them. In Virginia, where until recently public-sector collective bargaining was totally banned, local government employees are typically paid 29.9% less than their private-sector counterparts with similar education and experience. In states that have a policy like Virginia’s new law that allows but does not require localities to permit employees to collectively bargain, the average pay penalty for local employees compared to their private-sector peers was 16.6%, and where collective bargaining rights are fully protected by state law the pay penalty was a smaller 10.5%.⁵ 

“We are losing workers. We want a seat at the table. We want the city to invest in us, just like they invest in equipment. There are these neighborhoods and infrastructure to maintain, and we do that work. I feel bad that I cannot find suitable housing in Newport News because I cannot afford it.”

Keith Graham | Department of Public Works, Stormwater, Construction & Maintenance Worker, Senior City of Newport News

Since women and Black people are more likely to choose public service jobs, addressing pay penalties for public employees will reduce the broader problem of women and Black people being paid less than their peers with similar levels of education and experience.

Given the particular importance of unions in raising pay for those who for too many years have been underpaid compared to their levels of experience and education, it is not surprising that anti-union laws throughout the south were passed using explicit appeals to racist ideas. Undoing that legacy will require proactive steps to create more equitable policies and workplaces.

Although City Council recently approved a 3% raise for employees, this is less than the current inflation rate, leading to salaries eroding compared to the rising cost of living. A union can advocate for employees to receive more adequate increases. They can make sure that management and non-management staff are receiving adequate, livable wages that will amplify workers’ ability to live in the community they serve. The impact of unions is not just on pay and benefits. Collective bargaining provides a way for represented workers to formally express their ideas for how to improve their workflow and workplaces. This can improve communication and a sense of belonging. Having the experience of collective bargaining and union representation in the workplace even makes people — particularly younger people and those with less formal education — more likely to participate in other systems of democratic governance such as voting.⁶