City Employees, united in SEIU Virginia 512 and Teamsters Local 322, File for Their Union Elections at Richmond City Hall

RICHMOND, VA — Employees of the City of Richmond and their allies met outside of Richmond City Hall Thursday to file for union elections for Richmond city employees. This comes seven months after Richmond City Council passed a collective bargaining ordinance for Richmond city employees on July 25. City employees and their unions, SEIU Virginia 512 and Teamsters Local 322, look forward to voting for their unions in the days to come to ensure that all employees have meaningful collective bargaining rights.

Collective bargaining is the best way to close racial and gender pay gaps while raising standards for all workers. Collective bargaining strengthens local economies, advances economic and racial justice throughout the community, improves recruitment and retention, enhances services, and is supported by 68% of Virginians. To learn more, read The Commonwealth Institute's report here.

“Almost seven months ago, we were at City Hall celebrating the passing of the historic ordinance that gives us the right - our right - to unite together, build our union, and negotiate a binding contract for the changes we need on the J-O-B,” says Linda Brown, a Senior Library Assistant at Richmond Public Library organizing with SEIU Virginia 512. “Today, we return to the same spot to celebrate once again - this time, to announce that we have gathered overwhelming support from Richmond city employees and we have filed for our union election.”

“When we can sit down with City Council, when we can sit down with our managers, when we can sit down as a group of workers…and we can voice our opinion, and people respect our viewpoints...then, we are ‘one city, our city,’” said Mavis Green from the Department of Public Works, organizing with the Teamsters Local 322.

In the coming days, SEIU Virginia 512 and Teamsters Local 322 are expected to vote for their unions, giving city employees the right to finally negotiate their union contracts.

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SEIU Virginia 512 unites public service employees, including nurses, social workers, labor and trades staff, mental health professionals, librarians, parks staff, maintenance workers, engineers, and more, in Prince William, Fairfax, Loudoun, and Richmond. We are dedicated to delivering quality public services, and fighting for good jobs, for all people. Now more than ever, we believe that all working people deserve recognition for their work on the front line and a real seat at the table.

Teamsters Local 322 represents people across all trades and fights for better working conditions, wages, and benefits for working people. We are committed to fighting for a society where all workers have a voice in their work and a seat at a bargaining table through unions for all.