Four years after Richmond Public Schools became the first division in Virginia to recognize collective bargaining rights for its employees, school officials and unions are at odds over proposed changes to that process.

In a Tuesday news release, the Richmond Education Association and Teamsters Local 322 accused Superintendent Jason Kamras of “attempting to unilaterally weaken workers’ rights” through policy changes set for discussion at the School Board’s Oct. 7 business session. 

These proposed changes, REA and Local 322 said, would censor and restrict education cut employee pay without negotiation, reduce bargaining scope in worker contracts and weaken the mediation and grievances processes. workers’ free speech, trigger mechanisms to 

“These provisions are weaker than the federal labor law that Trump recently gutted,” REA and Local 322 said. “After decades of assaults on workers, it would be dangerous for local governments to compound these attacks.” 

The School Board, in a statement released hours after the REA and Local 322’s news release, presented the proposed policy revisions as efforts to improve the collective bargaining process, developed after discussion with and feedback from employees and staff. 

The revisions, it said, would remove duplicative grievance processes, simplify impasse and mediation procedures, and implement provisions when funding is available. They would also ensure negotiations are conducted with a focused set of issues, and that negotiations and advocacy don’t impact schools and students. 

The School Board also disputed “allegations to the contrary” that free speech restrictions “were ever discussed,” and said feedback following discussions with union partners has already led to changes in the proposed revisions. 

“The revisions outlined above are an attempt to make our processes clearer, more efficient, and more sustainable — both in terms of funding and staff time,” the board stated. “We owe that to our stakeholders, the taxpayers and most importantly, our students.” 

REA and Local 322 members plan to hold a news conference and rally Monday at 5 p.m. outside City Hall, calling on the School Board to “reject this authoritarian approach” ahead of its work session that evening.