Local 550 and the origin of the ban

In the early 1940s, a group of Black workers at UVA hospital formed a labor union: Local 550 of the State, County, and Municipal Workers of America. As was typical of the Jim Crow South, UVA’s hospital was segregated physically—with inferior facilities for Black patients—and in terms of employment, with Black employees systematically confined to less-desirable positions, lower wages, and longer hours.

Local 550 used coordinated walkouts and work stoppages to push back against workplace segregation—winning remarkable victories for Black workers, including wage increases, a guaranteed eight-hour workday, and an end to segregation in some workplace divisions. However, their victory was short-lived. Recognizing the power of an organized Black working class, segregationist politicians acted quickly to ban collective bargaining.

Newcomb to Sellers

Sellers to Newcomb

Lentz report

Times-Dispatch

Joint resolution

The Beam

The ban becomes law

The 1948 joint resolution made the ban official state policy, but it didn’t become a law until 1993. In the period between those two dates, UVA employees did make some attempts to form unions, even as Virginia politicians from both major parties took steps to ensure that collective bargaining rights would remain out of reach for public-sector workers.

SLAVES [re-add material from Google Doc about Gardner’s comments and Harold’s research: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1u6U5VysoeUsSfXOAx5PMNRlOKhDzhNX8iRS5rzIZjd0/edit]

Arlington decision

Harold materials [didn’t end up in exhibition, but still in this Google doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1u6U5VysoeUsSfXOAx5PMNRlOKhDzhNX8iRS5rzIZjd0/edit]

Union label

Text of Wilder law

The beginning of the end of the ban?

Throughout this section, we’ve seen that the story of collective bargaining is inseparable from Virginia’s history of structural racism. Both labor groups and their adversaries understood that racial justice depends on economic justice and that collective bargaining is a powerful tool for economic justice. As Virginians’ labor rights have been gradually restored over the past few years, It’s fitting that the story of Local 550 has been part of the struggle.

2022 law

Hudson quote [re-add Hudson’s testimony from the Google Doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1u6U5VysoeUsSfXOAx5PMNRlOKhDzhNX8iRS5rzIZjd0/edit]

2022 ordinance

Talking Union

Proposed 2024 law