Category: Labor and Workforce
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Virginia’s #3 for Business Rank Argues for Stability, Not Change
by Derrick A. Max Key Takeaways: Key Quote: “Virginia’s No. 3 ranking is a credit to the Commonwealth’s inherited strengths, not a blank check for Richmond to tax more, mandate more, and make it harder to do business here.” Virginia’s climb in CNBC’s newest “Top States for Business” ranking — moving from No. 4 back to…
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A Rising Democratic Star Disappoints Teachers’ Unions in Virginia
by Kevin Mahnken, The 74 Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger vetoed an expansion of collective bargaining rights last week. Her allies in the labor movement weren’t pleased. Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s rejection of a new law expanding collective bargaining rights for teachers has led to a division in the state’s Democratic coalition. It also generated discontent…
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Testing a New Governor’s Resolve
by Derrick A. Max and Steve Haner This session, the General Assembly sent over 1,000 bills to Governor Spanberger for her signature. She signed 852 into law, vetoed 8 and proposed amendments to 180. Even though some of her amendments were little more than window dressing (see article on Paid Family and Medical Leave) and…
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Guv’s Paid-Leave “Fix” Doesn’t Touch Biggest Problems
by Derrick A. Max Earlier this year I warned that Virginia’s proposed Paid Family and Medical Leave Act would create one of the most expansive and expensive paid leave programs in the country. I had hoped the Governor’s new amendments issued just before midnight last night would fix those concerns. They don’t. The legislation still would establish…
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Pax Virginiae: Preparing Virginia’s Future Leaders for Service in War and Peace
by Kenrick Brown The Washington, D.C.–Maryland–Virginia super-region — amusingly known as the “DMV” — is a vital center of American national security and the Free World’s global governance. If there is a “Pax Americana,” an American-led global order, then the “DMV” is arguably analogous to a modern-day Ancient Rome, but with nice suburban outskirts. How…
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Public Union Bills Causing Angst Among Local Democratic Officials
by Steve Haner Legislation to expand the potential for union contracts to cover most local and state employees is on the verge of approval if Democrats in the House of Delegates and Senate can reconcile two versions of the bill. They might also have to reconcile with locally elected Democratic officials. Many of them have…
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Extended Teacher Leave Entitlement Could Hit Schools Hard
by Derrick A. Max The Richmond Times-Dispatch ran my guest column this morning that warns of the significant learning loss that will likely occur from the Paid Family and Medical Leave bill (SB2) that is quickly winding its way to the Governor’s desk for her promised signature. As I have written previously, the Virginia General Assembly is…
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The General Assembly’s 22.5% “Labor Tax” Gamble
by Derrick A. Max As the Virginia General Assembly enters the final weeks of its 2026 session, a wave of new labor mandates is about to reach the Governor’s desk, two of which she has promised to sign, and one she seems inclined to support as well. House Bill 5 (Paid Sick Leave), Senate Bill 2 (Paid Family…
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Quote of the Day — Jim Murray and Meredith Woo
From their column in the Washington Post, “U.S. universities have lost sight of their core task“: America’s elite universities have superb engineering, computer science and medical programs that produce talented graduates. Yet even at the finest flagship schools, and certainly at the hundreds of other schools, too many of our most promising undergraduates remain in…
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Court Reverses Intent of 2020 Do-Not-Compete Reform
by Chap Petersen In the 2020 legislative session, the General Assembly – with a new Democratic majority – passed A LOT of bills regarding labor rights. One of the most important and least noticed was SB 840, which protected “low wage” workers, i.e. those making under the average state wage, from being subject to “covenants…
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Pending Paid Leave Bill Among Most Generous in U.S.
by Derrick A. Max Governor Abigail Spanberger campaigned on a promise to sign “paid family and medical leave” when it reaches her desk. But popular vote-getting concepts often ignore the damaging impact such policies have once they are implemented. Virginia’s paid family and medical leave program (Senate Bill 2/House Bill 1207) is a case study in…
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Minimum Wage Increase – Trade Offs and CNBC Rankings
by Chris Saxman Economist Thomas Sowell’s famous line “there are no solutions, only trade offs” came to mind while watching the House Labor and Commerce Committee debate the upcoming increase to Virginia’s minimum wage. HB1 would incrementally move Virginia to a $15 per hour minimum wage by January 1, 2028. Why $15? No idea… oh,…
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About Those Jobs Americans Don’t Want to Do….
How many are jobs the American education system just isn’t training them to do? How many of the jobs that Virginians “don’t want to do” are jobs that Virginia’s K-12 system doesn’t prepare them for?
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Labor Day: a New Start
by Kerry Dougherty Labor Day. America’s most ambiguous national holiday. Think about it. On other special days – Memorial, Independence, Veterans, Thanksgiving, Presidents, Martin Luther King and Christmas – we pause, however briefly, to honor a beloved person or a historical event. We have parades, visit cemeteries, blast fireworks, give thanks, recite a famous speech…
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A Trusted Source Crawls Out on a Political Limb
By Steve Haner One nice thing about detailed economic prognostication is that the predictions can later be checked and compared to reality. But the grim forecast for Virginia produced recently by the Weldon-Cooper Center for Public Service will have done its political damage long before the results are tallied. The predictions of job losses and…