VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — A resolution on collective bargaining failed in Virginia Beach Tuesday evening.
In a 5-5 vote, with one abstaining, the Virginia Beach City Council rejected collective bargaining.
Virginia Beach had two items in their agenda for Tuesday's special session related to collective bargaining.
The first item was to vote on authorizing collective bargaining. The second item was to vote on declining to authorize collective bargaining, but would amend the city code to "create employee committees to enhance communications among the city council, city manager and employees of the city regarding the terms and conditions of employment."
Had the resolution been adopted, 7,500 employees in 35 departments could have unionized.
A spokesperson for Virginia Beach says only the first item was taken up by the city council in Tuesday's meeting and the second was not acted on, so ultimately no changes will take place and the city will continue to use its Member Advisory Committee (MAC) established in 2003.
The MAC was established to address requests from employees to meet with the city manager about different topics like pay, healthcare, and leave among others. The 62-member MAC meets in-person at least two times a year with the city manager, according to a Virginia Beach spokesperson.
In the meeting Tuesday night, Virginia Beach City Council members heard from the public and voiced their own thoughts on the proposal before voting.
"[City workers] deserve not only our gratitude but also the assurance their voices will be heard," said one attendee in favor. One against countered, "hostage-taking by unions is going to make whatever problem the department has worse, not better."
Vice Mayor Rosemary Wilson says some estimates could cost the city hundreds of thousands of dollars. Wilson even referenced other cities like Cincinnati, which laid off many city employees when a collective bargaining agreement couldn't be reached. She read correspondence with Cincinnati's city manager during Tuesday's meeting.
"He had to lay them all off, all 1,700 people," said Wilson. "They eventually were able to bring everyone back, but for a time everyone lost their jobs."
But, some council members like, Joashua Schulman, pushed back. Even though he laid out a number of conditions he wished to see with the agreement, ultimately, he said, "if all you're really asking for is a seat at the table to negotiate, I don't think that's too much to ask."
City leaders offered up what they called an "enhanced meet-and-confer" as an alternative. Union leaders say that's not enough.
"Meet-and-confer does nothing that we don’t already do right now," said Max Gonano, president of the Virginia Beach fire and EMS local union. "The process they have right now just restricts employees even further." Before the vote, Gonano told 13News Now, he'd prefer no change to the system if collective bargaining failed, instead of implementing the meet-and-confer alternative.
Before voting against collective bargaining, Mayor Bobby Dyer voiced his concerns about the resolution's timing.
"When people on council vote against this, is not against you," he told union members and supporters in the audience. "You've got to know when's the time to jump. We are coming off COVID, we are coming in the midst of an inflationary period that is rocking every municipality."
Kay Flohre, who advocated for collective bargaining at multiple meetings, called the mayor's reasoning a "cop-out." "This is a journey we've been on for three years," she said. "I don't accept that."
Jimmy Frost, who also spoke at several meetings against collective bargaining, said he's glad the measure didn't pass Tuesday night.
"I just don’t think that right now, in the current economy that we have, collective bargaining which could lead to higher taxes and fees would be good for taxpayers," he said.
So far, the only city in Hampton Roads to adopt collective bargaining is Portsmouth.
The city council members voted as follows:
Mayor Bobby Dyer: No
Vice Mayor Rosemary Wilson: No
Michael Berlucchi: No
Barbara Henley: No
Worth Remick: Yes
Dr. Amelia Ross-Hammond: Abstain
Jennifer Rouse: Yes
Joashua Schulman: Yes
Chris Taylor: No
Sabrina Wooten: Yes
David Hutcheson: Yes