PORTSMOUTH, Va. — In a 4-2 vote Tuesday night, Portsmouth City Council members have voted to authorize collective bargaining for city employees.
With the vote to authorize, Portsmouth has become the first city in Hampton Roads to allow collective bargaining.
Mayor Shannon Glover and Councilman Dr. Mark Whitaker both voted against the move. Councilman De'Andre Barnes was absent from the meeting.
Ahead of City Council's meeting, several city employees held a rally in Portsmouth to show their support for the motion, and said that it is years overdue. Virginia State Senator Louise Lucas even stopped by the rally to show her support.
"Collective bargaining is a human right! It's not just a right - it's something that we should already have," said one supporter at the rally.
During the meeting, those same folks gathered at city hall to speak up and wait for the vote.
"Collective bargaining allows the people who do the job to directly advocate for themselves with their employer," said another supporter of the move.
Some among City Council aired their concerns over authorizing conversations that were illegal in Virginia up until 2020, with the decision now left up to localities.
"What exactly would collective bargaining give you today, give you today, that you're not getting?" asked Mayor Shannon Glover. He went on to ask the group pushing for collective bargaining to take note of the pay raises and new equipment he says they've recently received.
Critics of the move, including Interim City Manager Mimi Terry, Police Chief Stephen Jenkins and Fire Battalion Chief Sean Teartt, spoke about how collective bargaining could affect department operations and increase costs for taxpayers.
“I hope the citizens understand what this is going to mean for them. We are about to go through budget deliberations, what is it going to cost the city?” Terry said.
Kurt Detrick, President of the Portsmouth Professional Firefighters and Paramedics Union, was all for it. He said their benefits and staffing have changed drastically depending on whoever is in charge at a given time.
"Since we've started this process we're going on five city managers," he said. "There is no consistency there for anybody, so by putting this in place now, this starts the groundwork and lets us move forward."
Something echoed by Councilman Bill Moody.
“What’s to say the next city manager may be doing something entirely different, might be another council that’s not as supportive?"
Collective bargaining is a process of negotiation between employers and a group of employees aimed at agreements to regulate working salaries, working conditions, benefits, and other aspects of workers' compensation and rights for workers.
Several efforts are underway to bring collective bargaining to other cities across Hampton Roads including Virginia Beach, Norfolk, and Hampton. However, none of those have been successful so far.
Virginia Beach is expected to face a similar vote in December this year.