To the editor:

I am writing in response to the article titled “Collective bargaining plan advances,” published in your newspaper on March 25, 2021. I think it’s important that you are informing the public about Virginia advancing in collective bargaining because collective bargaining is very important and beneficial to employees.

I had no idea that most states already practiced collective bargaining except for Virginia and two other states. This is big news for the state of Virginia as it will allow employees to work through their unions to negotiate contracts, salary, benefits and hours with their employers, in addition to focusing on safety policies and finding balance within work and family.

I also read in the article that the new collective bargaining ordinance will strip the “city manager of the sole authority to dismiss the labor rights administrator without mutual agreement from the labor groups the administrator represents.” I personally think that is only fair.

I am glad that collective bargaining is advancing in the state of Virginia because it will keep things equal between employers and their employees. It will allow workers to feel like they are being heard, make the workplace safe and make them feel like all the hard work they are putting in is being seen. In turn, workers will gain more trust in their employers and cause more engagement in their work which benefits companies as well.

I’m glad to have come across this article, as this is news I will share with my family members that are public health workers in Virginia.

-Dorothea Torrino, Alexandria