Norfolk Botanical Garden workers have voted to unionize, with nearly two-thirds of them supporting the formation of the union.
But that’s just the latest steps in what will be a long process, said Bridget Fitzgerald, the union organizer working with Norfolk garden employees.
“We still have a lot of work to do,” she said.
The workers will join the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, or IAM Union. The National Labor Relations Board will certify the results later this month.
In the meantime, Fitzgerald said the union will prepare and distribute a survey to eligible employees to home in on their hopes for the contract that will be negotiated with garden management. All employees, including those who voted against unionizing, can weigh in.
“We need to be a voice for everyone,” Fitzgerald said. “If you can’t include everyone’s voice, then you’re still excluding those same 23 people who are essentially a third of the bargaining unit, and you don’t want to do that. You want everybody to come together in unity.”
Management said in an emailed statement that workers at the garden are the heart of the organization, and that their commitment to them is unwavering.
“As we move forward, we are focused on our mission and grounded in our shared values – united in our commitment to building a strong, successful future together,” reads a statement shared by Kelly Welsh, the garden’s chief marketing officer.
About 70% of eligible workers signed union authorization cards in June, triggering the election. Fitzgerald said employees are looking to have more input on the garden’s direction and to improve workplace safety, notably raising concerns about opaque or lacking inclement weather policies.
Better pay was also a driver for the unionization push. Fitzgerald said workers, many of whom start making around $15 per hour, want to begin to close the gap between current compensation and a living wage.
“These workers have been living their values and working their values as part of their profession,” she said. “But that doesn’t pay the bills.”
A full time worker without kids would need to make between $24 and $25 per hour to live comfortably in Hampton Roads, according to a living wage calculator developed by MIT.
Nearly 450 people signed a petition supporting the workers’ unionization by July 24. The campaign also drew support from politicians including State Sen. Angela Williams Graves of Norfolk and U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott of Newport News.
“This is not only a courageous step but also one deeply rooted in the proud history of our nation,” Scott wrote in a letter to Norfolk workers. “From the earliest days of the labor movement, workers have effectively used their voice to help shape laws and demand fairness, job security and a living wage.”
Once certified, Norfolk workers will join IAM Local 10 based in Richmond. It’s the same branch Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden workers in Henrico County joined after unionizing in 2024.
Fitzgerald said botanical gardens unionizing is still fairly rare, though the industry has seen more activity on that front in recent years. Portland’s Japanese Garden unionized with the Laborers' International Union of North America in 2024. Chicago Botanical Garden workers are in the midst of their own unionization campaign.
Virginia is also seeing a general rise in union membership. It’s up from 3.7% of workers in 2022 to 5.2% in 2024, cracking 5% for the first time since 2015. Fitzgerald said the uptick is a statement of need for workers as the cost-of-living climbs.
“In corporate America, you’ve got these huge profit margins; you don’t have that in the nonprofit world,” she said. “But there is still a need for workers to be able to feed their families.”
The process to reach a collective bargaining agreement can be lengthy, in some cases stretching years. Fitzgerald said the first contract typically takes longer to finalize, and that she anticipates it could take about nine months to a year to get done.
