Virginia

Virginia Public Sector Workers Organize To Make Their New Bargaining Rights A Reality

March 30, 2021 Joe Demanuelle-Hall, Labor Notes. Organize! Labor Unions, Public Workers, Virginia, Worker Rights

When Virginia changed its law last year to allow local government workers to bargain collectively, it was a leap forward in a time when the trend is generally in the opposite direction. As always, the devil is in the details—and there’s a lot of devilry here. But the change presents a substantial opening for unions. Now teachers, firefighters, and sewer workers are getting organized and pushing local governments to bargain over such issues as pay and staffing. Bargaining is still banned for state employees. But the new law, which takes effect May 1, allows cities, counties, and towns to bargain with their employees, an activity that had been expressly forbidden since a 1977 state Supreme Court ruling, codified by a 1993 law.

Second Tree Sitter Extracted On Final Day Of Yellow Finch Blockade

March 26, 2021 Appalachians Against Pipelines, Popular Resistance. Resist! Mountain Valley Pipeline, Oil and Gas, Treesit, Virginia

On Wednesday, March 24th, 2021, the second and final tree sitter at the Yellow Finch blockade in the path of the Mountain Valley Pipeline was extracted and arrested. This follows the Tuesday arrest of another tree sitter, and marks the final day — day 932 — of the Yellow Finch blockade. After Tuesday’s extraction, police remained on site overnight, shining spotlights at the remaining tree sit. MVP began work again this morning around 7 a.m. By 8 a.m., a rally of local supporters had formed nearby. Around 10 a.m., the large crane that police had brought on site began moving towards the remaining tree sitter, and around 12 p.m. they were cut from the lockbox that they had used to lock themself to the tree, extracted, and arrested.

Mountain Valley Pipeline Extracts One Tree Sitter At Yellow Finch Blockade

March 24, 2021 Appalachians Against Pipelines, Popular Resistance. Resist! Mountain Valley Pipeline, Police, Treesit, Virginia

Elliston, VA - On Tuesday, March 23rd, 2021, police extracted one of two tree sitters at the Yellow Finch blockade in the path of the Mountain Valley Pipeline. A large crane was used to reach the tree sit from Yellow Finch Lane and extract the sitter, who had locked themself to the tree. They were arrested, charged with trespassing, and are being held without bond (set by the Montgomery County magistrate). Today is day 931 of the Yellow Finch Tree sits. As of 9:00 p.m., the second tree sitter remains in their blockade.

City Workers Push For Collective Bargaining Rights

November 19, 2020 Brett Hall and Jane Alvarez-Wertz, WAVY. Resist! Collective bargaining, Public employees, Virginia, Worker Rights

Virginia Beach, VA - While local government employees are not legally allowed to engage in collective bargaining in the commonwealth until May 1, a group of workers from public utilities and public works making known their desire to have “a seat at the table” as soon as possible. On Tuesday evening, ahead of City Council’s formal session at the convention center, roughly 30 members of the city workforce chanted about the desire for hazard pay and fair wages before delivering a petition to the city manager’s office that lists four demands.

Confederate Monuments In Richmond Coming Down

June 8, 2020 By The Virginia Defender. Create! confederate statue, Racism, Virginia

Richmond, VA, June 3 -- The Virginia Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality, an all-volunteer, grassroots organization that since 2007, on the 200th anniversary of the birth of the slavery-defending Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, has been calling for taking down all the city’s white-supremacist memorials, is elated to learn today that some of the statues’ days are now officially numbered. Their demise is long, long overdue. Local and national media are reporting that Virginia’s Gov. Ralph Northam will announce tomorrow that he will order the 14-foot-tall statue of Lee to be removed from its 46-foot-tall pedestal on Richmond’s famed Monument Avenue and put into storage until there can be public input about its ultimate fate.

Worker Advocates Condemn Virginia’s Plan To Reopen

May 15, 2020 Ally Schweitzer, The DCist. Resist! COVID-19, Essential worker, Reopen Economy, Virginia

Immigrant advocates, progressive groups and NAACP chapters in Northern Virginia are calling on Gov. Ralph Northam to cancel his plans to partially reopen the state on May 15. Reopening too soon, advocates say, imperils black and Latinx workers on the front lines. In a remote press conference Thursday, the coalition demanded extensive COVID-19 testing, contact tracing, free medical services, hazard pay, ample personal protective equipment and other protections before workers are called back to their jobs across the state. Their demands are outlined in a new open letter to the governor. Latinx and black Virginians have been hardest hit by the pandemic in the commonwealth. In Fairfax County, Latinos make up nearly 60% of the jurisdiction’s known cases, but approximately 16% of the population, per Census data.

How Corporations Are Forcing Their Way Into America’s Public Schools

February 22, 2020 Jeff Bryant, Our Schools, Independent Media Institute Educate! Corporations, Schools, Virginia

In the expanding effort to privatize the nation's public education system, an ominous, less-understood strain of the movement is the corporate influence in Career and Technical Education (CTE) that is shaping the K-12 curriculum in local communities. An apt case study of the growing corporate influence behind CTE is in Virginia, where many parents, teachers and local officials are worried that major corporations including Amazon, Ford and Cisco...

Equal Rights Amendment Achieves Two-Thirds Of States, As Virginia Votes For Equality

January 21, 2020 Staff, Eracoalition.blog Create! Equal Rights, Reform, Virginia

The ERA Coalition is celebrating an historic victory. The Equal Rights Amendment is about to clear its final Constitutional hurdle as Virginia becomes the 38th state to ratify it, now that both the Senate and the House of Delegates have passed identical bills to be formalized in an upcoming procedural vote. As we mark the 100th anniversary of American women winning the right to vote, we can also celebrate the success of the nearly 100 year-long quest for constitutional equality.

Pipeline Fighter Blocks Mountain Valley Pipeline Construction

July 16, 2019 Staff, Facebook.com/appalachiansagainstpipelines/ Resist! Activism, Pipelines, Virginia

Montgomery County, VA — Yesterday, pipeline fighter Phillip Flagg locked himself in the path of the Mountain Valley Pipeline near Elliston, VA. MVP has been clearing and grading this section of the pipeline’s path in preparation to lay pipe. Phillip laid his body in the easement and locked his body to an underground concrete blockade directly in the path of the pipeline. His action stopped MVP work at the site for 7 hours, preventing the company’s progression towards the nearby Yellow Finch tree sits. Around 5:30 pm, Phillip was extracted from his blockade and arrested.

Virginia’s Controversial Pipelines Face Protests And Legal Hurdles

June 3, 2019 By Mason Adams, Virginiamercury.com Resist! Pipelines, Protests, Virginia

FLOYD — Warm weather has brought renewed activity to the Mountain Valley Pipeline in western Virginia, but the project and its equally contentious sibling, the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, still face unresolved legal and regulatory hurdles that leave their completion uncertain. This year has seen new protests on the ground, as well as an escalation in charges against protesters. A man who chained himself to a piece of pipeline equipment in West Virginia last month was charged with threats of terrorist acts, marking the first time a pipeline protester has been charged with a felony.

The Atlantic Coast Pipeline: Another Boondoggle In Virginia

February 21, 2019 Kenneth Surin, Counterpunch.org Educate! Atlantic Coast Pipeline, Pipelines, Virginia

Two pipelines– the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) and the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP)—earmarked for construction in Virginia have been the source of massive controversy. In a previous CounterPunch article I discussed the MVP, saving the equally controversial ACP for this article. The ACP is a 42-inch fracked-natural gas pipeline that would run about 600 miles/970 km from West Virginia through Virginia before terminating in eastern North Carolina.

“We Have Stopped It For Another Year”: MVP Tree-Sit Hits Over 156 Days

February 12, 2019 By Appalachians Against Pipelines, Itsgoingdown.org Resist! Appalachia, Blockades, Mountain Valley Pipeline, Occupation, Pipelines, Virginia

Today marks 156 days since the beginning of the Yellow Finch tree sits, and a lot has changed since then. The forest around us has undergone seasonal changes, the trees have shed their leaves, and animals have become dormant for the winter months. The tree sits have endured a hurricane, snowstorms, high winds, and below freezing temperatures. But thanks to the tree sits, this hillside has been able to experience another winter, and another chance at rebirth come springtime. Thanks to the tree sits, there is currently one less forest degraded and destroyed for profit, one less forest ecosystem suffering from fragmented habitat and biodiversity loss. Thanks to the tree sits, there is still a thriving, functioning forest on the hillside above Yellow Finch Lane in Elliston, Va.

Cop Suspended After Anti-Fascists Expose His Affinity For White Nationalist Group

February 8, 2019 Christopher Mathias, Huffingtonpost.com Resist! Police, Virginia, White Nationalism

The Facebook account for a Virginia police sergeant shows connections to a “neo-Volkisch” white nationalist group. A Virginia police sergeant has been suspended after his apparent affinity for a neo-pagan white nationalist group was exposed by local anti-fascist activists. Sgt. Robert Stamm, 36, was placed on paid administrative leave Wednesday, according to a statement from the Virginia Division of Capitol Police, the law enforcement agency tasked with policing the state Capitol grounds in Richmond. The department said it was “made aware early Wednesday of a possible violation of division policy” by Stamm.

Virginia Teachers Protest Low Pay At Capitol Rally

January 29, 2019 Alan Suderman, Apnews.com Resist! Protests, Teachers, Virginia

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia teachers demanded higher pay and better working conditions during a rally Monday at the state Capitol, as educators look to match the success of similar teacher protests movements around the country. Thousands of teachers and supporters from around the state urged state lawmakers to make education spending a higher priority or risk losing their seats in elections later this year. Teachers said that years of stagnant pay, overcrowded classrooms, and inadequate supplies have led to a breaking point.

Virginia Officials Reject Dominion IRP And ACP Construction Halted

December 8, 2018 Staff, Southernenvironment.org Resist! Dominion, Dominion Energy, Virginia

Today the Virginia State Corporation Commission issued an order rejecting Dominion Energy’s Integrated Resource Plan, which lays out the utility’s plans for meeting energy needs for years to come in Virginia. This is the first time the Virginia SCC has ever outright rejected a plan from the energy company. Also today, Dominion in contending with a Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals order to stay a key permit of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline has now temporarily shut down construction on the entire project.

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