Interesting news from Virginia Del. Lee Carter’s campaign:
Good afternoon everyone.
Today we’re announcing that Delegate Carter’s campaign has unionized; please find the release attached.
To our knowledge, our campaign is the first to unionize in the history of Virginia. I did some cursory research and spoke with a former campaign manager of Henry Howell, but I couldn’t find examples of any Virginia campaign ever unionizing.
To our knowledge, our campaign is the first state legislative campaign to unionize in the South. I only found two southern campaigns that’ve unionized in contemporary history – Laura Mosher (defeated in 2018 Dem congressional primary in TX-07) and David Richardson (defeated in 2018 Dem congressional primary in FL-27).
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Manassas, VA – Delegate Lee Carter’s campaign staff have won union representation, making the campaign the first ever to unionize in Virginia. The staff signed cards with United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 400, the same union that recently organized Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign.
In May, Delegate Carter signed a neutrality agreement that recognized the rights of his staff to organize into a labor union and committed him to remain neutral in the staff’s organizing drive. He has since agreed to formally recognize UFCW Local 400, which now represents all of the campaign’s full-time employees.
Negotiations for the first collective bargaining agreement are currently underway.
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