Last year, my City of Richmond co-workers and I came together to make history and negotiate one of the first-ever union contracts for front line City workers. Now, we need to expand the freedom to collectively bargain to all public service workers around Virginia, so that all workers and all communities can share in the benefits that come when we empower working people.

For nearly 75 years, Virginia public servants were banned from coming together to negotiate contracts. And the reason why shouldn’t surprise us: Jim Crow.

In 1943, 28 Black nurses at the University of Virginia staged a walkout after their hospital refused to negotiate raises. These workers were denied even the job title of “nurse,” instead segregated as “ward maids,” which essentially meant doing the most work for the least pay.

Then, the hospital fired the nurses.

For three years, Black hospital workers and their community organized, campaigning for fair wages and hours and respect for their work. But in 1946, the Virginia General Assembly banned all state entities from recognizing public employee unions. Without recognition for their union, the Black workers’ campaign was cut off at the knees.

And for nearly a century, that ban stood, denying us the voice on the job that other private sector workers have, and denying countless Black Virginians the pathway to the middle class that comes with a union card. That changed five years ago, when working people succeeded in partially repealing the ban. A new law made historic progress, empowering cities and counties to allow their workers to collectively bargain for the first time.

I have worked for the city of Richmond for nearly 30 years. When I first saw a flyer for SEIU Virginia 512, I knew almost nothing about unions.

But I knew that there were a lot of problems my co-workers and I faced on the job, and that we didn’t have much power to solve them. So I went to a meeting, and I talked with City workers in other departments.

And I realized we all had a lot of the same struggles. I had conversations with workers who’d been with the City for 10 or 15 years, who still had to fight for the tools and information they needed to do their jobs well and deliver quality service for our community.

For about 25 years, I’ve worked for the same department: The Department of Social Services in the Division of Children, Families and Adults.

I serve Richmond kids in foster care and their families, working to ensure their funding is correct. It’s vital work to our community. We are making sure taxpayer money is spent and used correctly, and that resources go to local kids who need them.

But we are constantly running short of employees, meaning everyone is stretched too thin. When there simply aren’t enough workers to do the job, quality is going to suffer, no matter how hard we work.

And unsurprisingly, we have problems with retention. High turnover stretches workers even further and is less efficient for county taxpayers. It means more time spent on training and less time doing the actual work of serving Richmond families.

It’s why my co-workers and I came together, organized, and won our seat at the bargaining table. The result is a historic contract that finally gives workers like us a voice for our community, and for fair pay, benefits, and working conditions.

We negotiated the creation of new committees that allow frontline workers to give expert input on decision-making – not only to bring up problems, but to suggest solutions. If you work for a living, you probably know what it’s like to be ignored by management or to not have your ideas for improvement taken seriously.

Empowering workers allows the City’s government to work more efficiently and to better serve Richmond families.

Now, we need to grant all workers around Virginia the same freedom to negotiate a fair contract, which will mean good union jobs and quality public services for all our communities. And it will mean more Virginia workers – including Black and Brown workers who have been left behind and excluded too often in our history – will have a path to the middle class.

It’s time to put Virginia on the right side of history. The governor must sign new legislation passed this year by the Virginia Assembly to expand collective bargaining rights to more public service workers in Virginia, including state workers, local government workers in all localities, higher education workers at public universities and home care workers.

When workers thrive, our communities thrive.

The writer is a 30-year employee of the City of Richmond. She serves as the Chapter Chair of SEIU Virginia 512.