SEIU Virginia 512 Statement on Governor's Changes to SB 378 and HB 1263

For two decades, home care providers united with city and county workers in SEIU Virginia 512 have organized for the freedom to collectively bargain. Our home care workforce, primarily Black and Brown women, provides the essential care that allows seniors and people with disabilities to live with dignity at home. Yet, they are paid poverty wages of just $13.88 an hour in most of Virginia, with over 53% forced to rely on public assistance to survive.

Home care workers, and all public workers, deserve a real seat at the table to bargain for living wages, quality healthcare, and safe workplaces. When workers have the power to negotiate fair pay and conditions, it doesn’t just lift up workers — it strengthens the services our communities depend on.

But at a moment when the governor had the opportunity to expand worker’s rights, she instead introduced dozens of changes that weakened the ability of workers to bargain meaningful contracts. This proposal weakens existing protections, excludes entire groups of workers, and delays access to bargaining rights until 2030 for many local government workers. This version of the bill shifts power away from working people, moving collective bargaining into an uncertain regulatory process that could allow any administration to stall or roll back progress without a single vote from the public.

SEIU members spent thousands of hours knocking doors and making phone calls last November to elect a governor who promised us she would pass a collective bargaining bill that truly protects workers. We are calling on her to honor that commitment and sign the original bill.

Virginia’s workers deserve better. We stand in solidarity with our union siblings across Virginia and urge the General Assembly to reject this substitute and send the original legislation back to the governor’s desk.