Norfolk’s City Council voted to reject a request from a police officers’ union to allow it to collectively bargain on behalf of the city’s cops.
The move comes after Portsmouth became the first Hampton Roads city to grant all of its employees collective bargaining rights.
The Norfolk Chapter of the Southern States Police Benevolent Association made a request in August, submitting petitions including signatures of some 200 Norfolk police officers.
Norfolk’s City Council denied the request Tuesday night on a 5-3 vote.
Rich Goszka, the Virginia representative for the Southern States Police Benevolent Association, said the members of Norfolk's chapter are disappointed.
“(Collective bargaining is) about the police officers having a seat at the table about their work culture. It’s not just about money," Goszka said. “What a contract does it allows continuity across political regimes. That’s what they’re looking for – stability.”
He noted that collective bargaining would be a way to improve conditions to help recruit and retain officers - a problem in policing that has seen departments like Norfolk left w ith hundreds of empty officer positions in recent years.
Tuesday's vote instead authorized additional employee committees that will meet directly with the city manager - a measure city leaders said was meant to improve communication and give employees a better way to have their voices heard. That includes a specific committee for police officers.
Goszka said that doesn't go far enough, but the Norfolk chapter will take advantage of any avenue it has to address concerns to upper management.
Collective bargaining is how groups of employees negotiate a union contract with their employer.
It’s a key function of a union, but unions for government employees like teachers and firefighters haven’t been able to collectively bargain in Virginia since a 1977 state Supreme Court decision.
A 2020 change in state law now lets unions ask bargaining rights from local governments.
Only a few groups of public employeeshave won the ability to negotiate contracts so far, mostly in Northern Virginia localities.
