Virginia is ranked first in the nation for business but dead-last for workers. The Commonwealth’s anti-labor history is a deeply-entrenched legacy of Jim Crow and that we must name and confront that history in our fight to ensure that all workers deserve a living wage, the right to form a union and bargain for a contract, and paid time off when they get sick.

 

• Elizabeth believes no one should have to choose between their health and a paycheck, but in Virginia 1.2 million workers have no paid time off. That’s why she has introduced a paid sick days bill every year and will do so again in the 2021 legislative session.

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• Elizabeth sponsored and passed a bill to lift Virginia's blanket ban on public sector collective bargaining. Her bill, which takes effect in May 2021, will permit localities to opt-in to collective bargaining agreements with their employees. Virginia was one of only three states with such a ban. A University of Toledo law professor told the Washington Post the bill "would lift the spirits of labor in the United States.” Elizabeth will continue to fight for stronger collective bargaining laws until no worker is left behind.

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• Delegate Guzman was chief co-patron on the bill to raise the minimum wage and a voice against delaying its implementation. Her bill to remove the farm worker’s exemption was successfully rolled into the House version of the bill, but was stripped out in the Senate. Factoring in cost of living, Virginia has had the lowest minimum wage in the country.  Agriculture is Virginia’s #1 private sector industry, yet farm workers can legally be paid less than minimum wage. That exemption is a legacy of share-cropping. Check out this Blue Virginia interview in which Elizabeth discusses her fight to include farm workers in minimum wage protections.

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• Elizabeth sponsored a paid sick days bill every year since taking office. The initiative passed the House but was killed this year in the Senate. During the emergency special session – which was convened to address the pandemic and police reform – Guzman sponsored a paid quarantine bill which passed the House but was killed by the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee. Bloomberg Law highlighted her bill in an article titled “Virus Paid Leave Expands Even as Democrat-Led Virginia Says ‘No’.” A version of this bill granting paid sick leave to home health care workers was passed in the 2021 session. 

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• Virginia is the only state in which repetitive motion injuries are not covered by workers’ comp. Elizabeth introduced and passed a bill directing the Workers’ Compensation Commission to conduct a study that would help lay the groundwork to allow workers with repetitive motion injuries to file workers’ comp claims.

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• Elizabeth supports the repeal of Virginia’s Right-to-Work law. By undermining labor unions, Right-to-Work laws weaken workers’ voices and result in lower wages.