We want to hand over 500,000 Virginia Government Employees to SEIU Union Bosses
Virginia’s New Governor Pushes to Unionize 500,000+ Public Employees – Mark Mix Sounds the Alarm!
In this segment from The Steve Gruber Show, guest host Scot Bertram is joined by Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Committee and National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.
They discuss newly elected Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger’s (D) push — alongside the Democratic-controlled General Assembly — to overhaul state labor laws by granting full collective bargaining rights to hundreds of thousands of government employees (approximately 500,000–574,000 state and local public workers, including teachers, corrections officers, social workers, and more).
Mark Mix warns that this would hand union officials (such as the Service Employees International Union, or SEIU) monopoly power over government workforce conditions, driving up costs and putting Virginia on a path toward fiscal trouble similar to that of states like Illinois, California, New York, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.
Employee Rights Under Attack- Forcing Employees to Work Under Unwanted Labor Union Boss Controls
He cites Franklin Roosevelt’s view that unionizing government employees is “unthinkable” because it’s not the same as the private sector — public unions negotiate with politicians who can raise taxes to meet demands, rather than competing in the market.
Mix highlights a concerning quote from Virginia’s Senate president, who reportedly said he wants to “hand over 500,000 government employees to the Service Employees International Union,” calling it a major power grab for union bosses.
This comes as legislation to expand public-sector collective bargaining advances in the 2026 session (after being vetoed by the prior Republican governor), testing Spanberger’s affordability agenda against union priorities.
Mix argues it’s a bad deal for taxpayers and fiscal responsibility.
Watch the full clip for the complete discussion on why public-sector unionization could lead to higher costs and bigger government in Virginia!