This story was reported and written by VPM News.
A Senate committee on Monday killed a bill that would have established workplace protections for warehouse employees, including from being disciplined for using the bathroom.
Two Democrats — Sens. Dave Marsden (D-Fairfax) and Jeremy McPike (D-Prince William) — sided with Republicans on the Commerce and Labor Committee to kill the bill for the second year in a row.
Sen. Jennifer Carroll-Foy (D-Prince William) sponsored the proposal this year and during the 2024 legislative session.
“At the end of the day, we want everyone to be good stewards and operate in transparency, and do the right thing for their workers and all Virginians,” she said in an interview before the vote Monday.
The proposal defined warehouse employees as those “performing work or based at a warehouse distribution center.”
It would have required employers to provide written performance expectations to employees, disciplinary actions for not meeting them and notification of changes to performance standards at least two days prior to being updated.
It would also prohibit employees from being disciplined over using the bathroom.
Tens of thousands of Virginia workers are in the warehousing industry, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. While the statistics don’t distinguish among types of warehousing jobs, statewide over 50,000 workers manually “move freight, stock, luggage, or other materials, or perform other general labor.”
Another 70,000 “[r]eceive, store, and issue merchandise, materials, equipment, and other items from stockroom, warehouse, or storage yard to fill shelves, racks, tables, or customers’ orders.”
Industry lobbyists in Virginia spoke against the bill during the committee meeting, saying it was too broad and imposed a one-size-fits-all standard without enough specifics.
“I think the ultimate remedy is unionization. That way, people can collectively bargain for these worker provisions,” Carroll-Foy said in the interview Monday morning. “But until that happens, then it's our job as a legislative body to ensure our workers have safe working conditions and that their employers follow the law.”
In December at the Virginia Economic Summit & Forum on International Trade, the opening salvo of Virginia’s 2025 gubernatorial campaign focused on labor.
The front-runner for the Republican nomination, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, focused her remarks on Virginia’s “right-to-work” law, which prohibits requiring union membership as a condition of employment.
“I don't have to tell you that if the effort to repeal ‘right-to-work’ is ever successful, it will destroy Virginia's economy and our workforce in several ways,” Earle-Sears said, after calling out former U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger, the sole candidate for the Democratic nomination. “We Virginians deserve a straight answer from Congresswoman Spanberger: Does she support our right-to-work law?”
A spokesperson for Spanberger did not answer a request for comment by deadline.
Spanberger did vote for the Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2021, which included language that would have repealed provisions of federal law that enable right-to-work laws, among other labor reforms.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin mentioned Virginia’s law in both this year’s and last year’s State of the Commonwealth addresses.
“One of the reasons why Virginia is the top state in America for business is because we protect the right to work,” Youngkin told reporters after the Monday address. “This is not an anti-union comment. It is a pro-worker choice comment.”
So far, no bills to repeal Virginia’s right to work provisions have been filed for the 2025 legislative session, which began in-kind Monday following a delay due to Richmond’s water issues. Republican Delegate Chad Green (R-York) has proposed a constitutional amendment that would enshrine the right-to-work law in the state constitution.
In a statement, Carroll Foy said she looked forward to “continuing the fight for Virginia workers over this session and beyond.”
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