Collective Bargaining Ordinance Proposed In Alexandria

ALEXANDRIA, VA — Ahead of state legislation to allow collective bargaining with localities, Alexandria has proposed a public employees collective bargaining ordinance.

Collective bargaining had existed in 19 Virginia localities, including Alexandria, until a 1977 Virginia Supreme Court ruling stopped local governments from collective bargaining with their employees. On May 1, 2021, A Virginia law will take effect allowing counties, cities and towns to adopt ordinances to recognize labor unions or employee associations as a bargaining unit and enter into collective bargaining.

The new state law does not mandate that a locality extend bargaining rights to its employees. However, localities must vote to adopt or not adopt an ordinance "within 120 days of receiving certification from a majority of public employees" in an appropriate bargaining unit.

The proposed ordinance in Alexandria is presented by the city manager for City Council to consider on Feb. 9 and set for a public hearing on Feb. 20 or a later date. The ordinance was developed by the city manager’s office, the city Attorney’s office, and outside counsel with feedback from stakeholders like department heads, employee unions and other employee associations, and an internal employee group.

The ordinance covers the establishment, definition and limitation of the right to bargain collectively; procedures for employee selection of a representative union or employee association; scope of bargaining; prohibited practices and procedures for redress; procedures for addressing negotiation impasses; contract approval procedures and timelines; means to resolve disputes arising under union-management contracts; and means for administering all components of the ordinance.

The proposed ordinance calls for four bargaining units: the fire department unit with 206 employees, police department unit with 244 employees, labor and trades unit with 180 employees, and general government unit with 948 employees. The city proposes 1,009 employees to be excluded from bargaining.

Supervisors, managerial employees, and confidential employees would not be eligible for collective bargaining under the ordinance. That includes those who work directly for City Council, the City Manager’s Office, the City Attorney’s Office, the Department of Human Resources and any other department or position where the employee has authorized access to city personnel files, and the Office of Management and Budget.

The city manager, in consultation with the police and fire chiefs and chief human resources officer, concluded employees from the rank of sergeant and up are considered supervisors and would not bargain for the police unit. Employees from the rank of lieutenant and up are considered supervisors and would not bargain for the fire unit.

According to the city manager's memo, collective bargaining agreements are expected to result in higher city employee pay and benefits than they would have been without collective bargaining. The city spends around $229 million annually on pay and benefits for city employees, and each 1 percent increase would hypothetically cost approximately $2.3 million per year. A 5 percent increase would cost approximately $11.5 million per year.

Alexandria City Public Schools can also decide whether to allow collective bargaining for employees, and the city would likely fund nearly all additional costs of an ACPS collective bargaining agreement. Each hypothetical 1 percent of additional pay and benefits for ACPS is around $2.1 million annually, and 5 percent would total $10.5 million.

Collective bargaining will also require the city to add a chief labor relations officer in the city manager's office, several human resources positions, additional assistant city attorney, funding for the outside labor relations administrator and periodic funding for outside legal and technical assistance. This could cost $500,000 to $1,000,000 per year, depending on whether collective bargaining is limited to wages and benefits or all terms and conditions of employment.