Key Points

• Statewide collective bargaining legislation is poised to become law. A pending bill on Governor Abigail Spanberger’s desk would establish a comprehensive framework extending mandatory collective bargaining rights to public sector employees across the Commonwealth. Under current law, localities may “opt in” and adopt ordinances permitting collective bargaining in a given county, city or town.
• The legislation mirrors the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) in certain respects. Like its federal counterpart, the proposed Virginia law would require public employers to bargain in good faith with unions over wages, hours and other working conditions.
• A recent arbitration decision signals how the legislation, if passed, may be interpreted. In a first-of-its-kind ruling under a local-option ordinance, an arbitrator found that a school district unlawfully refused to rehire a teachers’ union president because she engaged in union activities — applying NLRA principles to Virginia’s local framework.

Virginia is poised to adopt a new, comprehensive framework that would extend mandatory collective bargaining rights to public sector employees across the Commonwealth.

Governor Abigail Spanberger is expected to sign recently passed legislation that would, in effect, require statewide collective bargaining — a major expansion from the current local-option framework.

The legislation’s new framework would take effect July 1, 2028.

Background

Virginia has historically prohibited public-sector collective bargaining. In 2020, however, the Commonwealth enacted enabling legislation permitting — but not requiring — localities to authorize collective bargaining with public employees.

Under this “opt-in” framework, counties, cities and towns may voluntarily adopt local ordinances authorizing bargaining on behalf of public employees, but they are not required to do so. As a result, some localities have adopted collective bargaining ordinances, creating a patchwork of frameworks that vary in scope and procedure. For example, one school district that opted in requires bargaining for the first collective bargaining agreement (CBA) only with respect to wages, hours, benefits and “up to one working conditions topic selected by each party,” whereas other localities do not limit bargaining in that manner.

In 2025, Virginia’s legislature passed a bill that would have required statewide collective bargaining, but the prior governor vetoed the bill. In March 2026, the legislature passed the legislation that currently awaits Governor Spanberger’s signature.

The 2026 Legislation

The pending legislation would establish a comprehensive framework permitting workers statewide to join a union and engage in collective bargaining with public employers, similar to the NLRA system that applies to private sector labor relations.

If Governor Spanberger signs the bill, unions would not automatically represent workers. Rather, employees in an appropriate bargaining unit must affirmatively select a union as their exclusive bargaining representative. Employees can select a union either through a public employer voluntarily choosing to recognize the union based on evidence that a majority of employees are members of the union or have authorized it to represent them, or through a secret ballot election.

Key provisions of the bill include:

• Public Employee Relations Board (PERB). The bill creates a five-member PERB — two management representatives, two labor representatives and one “representative of the public” — to determine appropriate bargaining units, conduct representation elections and adjudicate unlawful conduct committed by a public employer or union. The PERB’s federal counterpart, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), performs similar functions applying the NLRA to private sector labor relations. Under the bill, the governor would make initial appointments to the PERB by October 1, 2026, subject to confirmation by Virginia’s General Assembly.
• Employee rights and employer prohibitions. Like the NLRA, the legislation guarantees public employees the right to organize, form, join or assist a union — or to refrain from any such activity. The bill also protects employees’ right to engage in “other concerted activities for purposes of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection” — a provision that, if interpreted consistently with NLRB precedent, would safeguard workers’ group efforts to improve their working conditions even absent union representation. Employees would also have the right to bargain through their union with respect to wages, hours and other working conditions. Correspondingly, public employers are prohibited from interfering with, restraining or coercing employees in the exercise of the foregoing rights — including by discriminatorily discharging an employee for engaging in union activities or refusing to bargain in good faith with the union. The bill prohibits unions from various activities, too, including the refusal to bargain.
• Impasse resolution. The legislation provides for mediation of negotiations for a CBA and, if impasse persists, binding interest arbitration. The NLRA, by contrast, does not require interest arbitration to settle private sector bargaining disputes.
• Grievance arbitration. CBAs must contain grievance procedures providing for binding arbitration of disciplinary actions and contract interpretation disputes. The NLRA also does not require grievance arbitration, although most private sector CBAs contain such provisions.
• Strikes prohibited. Strikes by public employees are prohibited; employees who strike are deemed to have terminated their employment. Public employers are also prohibited from locking out employees. This is different from federal law; the NLRA generally permits strikes and lockouts.
• Bargaining units. The bill specifies numerous job classifications that must be permitted to form bargaining units, including administrative services, education and media services, engineering and technology, various health services, state police and firefighters.
• Higher education. Employees of public institutions of higher education are generally prohibited from forming a union, with one significant exception: “service employees.” Service employees are defined as employees who work at least 16 hours per week “performing work in connection with the care or maintenance of property,” including janitors, security officers, groundskeepers, clerical and administrative assistants, maintenance technicians and food preparation workers. As a practical matter, this means that faculty and similar positions at public colleges and universities in the Commonwealth would likely be ineligible to unionize under the legislation.
• Home health care workers. The bill would create the Virginia Home Care Council to serve as the employer of home health care providers for the purpose of allowing those workers to unionize and collectively bargain.
• Existing bargaining relationships. The bill would not cancel or override any union that is already recognized under a local-option ordinance, any labor negotiations already in progress or any CBA already in place before July 1, 2028. However, it is not yet clear whether the bill would impact the provisions of local-option ordinances themselves.

First Unfair Labor Practice Ruling Under Local Framework

In a recent decision, an arbitrator issued what appears to be the first ruling addressing employees’ right to be free from adverse employment action for engaging in protected union activities under Virginia’s local labor law ordinances.

The arbitrator held that a public school committed an unfair labor practice by refusing to rehire the president of a teachers’ union when she applied in August 2025, because she engaged in union activities. The union president served as a speech-language pathologist before becoming president. As she was transitioning out of the president role, the school refused to rehire her because it held her responsible as president for alleged misconduct, including the union’s alleged misuse of operating funds and its placement in trusteeship.

The arbitrator found that these administrative activities were protected union activities and the school lacked an “honest belief” that the president engaged in misconduct, including because the school relied entirely on hearsay in media reports about the union’s alleged mismanagement. Further, the arbitrator found that the school punished the president more severely than other union officials based solely on her position as president and her name in the media reports, which violated her rights as a union officer and discouraged employees from exercising their right to hold union office. As agreed by the employee and the school, the arbitrator applied NLRA principles as persuasive authority in reaching these findings.

As part of the remedy, the arbitrator ordered the school to reinstate the union president to her former position as a speech-language pathologist, with backpay, plus reasonable attorney fees she incurred (the local school ordinance provided for attorney fees, which are generally unavailable under the NLRA, and are not included in the pending legislation). The school may appeal the arbitrator’s decision in Virginia state court, which will be important to monitor.

The arbitrator’s decision could serve as an example of how the PERB will analyze allegedly unlawful employer conduct under the pending bill, should Governor Spanberger sign it into law.

Takeaways

The bill, if it becomes law, would significantly expand the universe of Virginia public sector employees with collective bargaining rights. Public employers should begin to familiarize human resources on labor law fundamentals and prepare for the new labor relations landscape, including by engaging experienced counsel for training. Although the bill would not take effect until mid-2028, local-option ordinances remain operative at least until then. Employers may gain further insight into their obligations from litigation arising under those ordinances.

For more information, please contact Mark G. Eskenazi at meskenazi@foxrothschild.com or 202.461.3109, or another member of our Labor & Employment Department. Listen to Mark’s podcast, “Labor Law Lineup”, on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts.

This information is intended to inform firm clients and friends about legal developments, including the decisions of courts and administrative bodies. Nothing in this alert should be construed as legal advice or a legal opinion. Readers should not act upon the information contained in this alert without seeking the advice of legal counsel.