VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — The Virginia Beach City Council has two weeks left to weigh the benefits and drawbacks of collective bargaining, and members met once again on Tuesday where they debated the topic for over an hour.
City leaders have 120 days to decide what to do with a recent petition submitted by Virginia Beach's fire union, the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF). City council members could adopt the proposed ordinance, reject the measure or pursue other alternative options like Norfolk.
"I say we give it a little time, see how they do it, and see what we can learn from their best options," said Mayor Bobby Dyer.
So far, the only city in Hampton Roads to adopt collective bargaining is Portsmouth. Virginia Beach city councils floated the idea of waiting to see how it is implemented there, before bringing it to the Mermaid City.
City council members also brought up several fears residents have that collective bargaining could 'bankrupt' the city. Councilwoman Rosemary Wilson said some estimates cost the city upwards of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
She also pointed to other cities like Cincinnati, that laid off several city employees when a collective bargaining agreement could not be reached.
"He had to lay them all off, all 17 hundred people," said Wilson. "They eventually were able to bring everyone back, but for a time everyone lost their jobs."
However, some city council members pushed back against this idea.
Councilman David Hutcheson, a retired Virginia Beach fire chief, remained a strong advocate for collective bargaining. If passed, he said collective bargaining would save the city money as just a 3% retention rate for city employees could save the city a million dollars.
He said city employees are not looking to become millionaires, they want a livable wage.
"Inevitably there is always some dedication, or park, or project that gets in the way of giving our city employees money," said Hutcheson. "I understand that this is scary to some people - it's troublesome for me to hear scare tactics as far as why not to do it, instead of using empirical data."
City council members must make a decision about collective bargaining by April 30th.