For Immediate Release
December 7, 2021
Contact: byoungel@veanea.org

RICHMOND, VA — In a historic moment, the Richmond City School Board voted 8-1 in favor of the collective bargaining resolution that will allow educators to collectively negotiate their contracts. It has been 44 years since Richmond educators have had the right to collectively negotiate their contract—a right educators in the majority of other states already enjoy. Now, the Richmond Education Association (REA) hopes to become the bargaining representative for nearly 4,000 educators.

It has taken more than a year of patient grassroots organizing for educators to convince the school board to pass the resolution. After organizing rallies, trainings, collecting authorization cards, and petition signatures, the REA successfully pressured the school board into passing the resolution.

Collective bargaining or collective contract negotiations allow working people—organized in a labor union—to negotiate the terms and conditions of their employment with their employer. In other states, educators use this right to advocate for smaller class sizes, more planning time, adequate classroom technology and better wages and benefits, which attracts better educators to the area. The resolution that was passed last night allows for a contract to be created that could potentially cover all of these subjects.

Over the last two months, Richmond Public Schools employees have been attending school board meetings to advocate for their right to negotiate their contracts. Educators told the school board about working two jobs and not being given a raise in ten years. One teacher explained that her classroom chairs were replaced with uncomfortable, poorly designed stools that tip students out of their seats. Another teacher told the school board that as a preschool teacher she is expected to prepare her students’ lunches, but isn’t given time to eat lunch herself, so she spends nine hours at work without eating.

All of these stories illustrate what educators have been saying for years: Educators’ working conditions are students’ learning conditions. With the right to collectively negotiate their contracts, educators can work with the school board to find solutions to these problems and create learning environments where all students can thrive.

Of course, this doesn’t automatically mean educators have a contract. In the following months, educators will be required to elect a bargaining representative through a secret ballot election and will then begin the process of creating their first contract. While there are still many steps to go, the passage of this resolution is a milestone that educators should celebrate.