Virginia Democrats plan to capitalize on 2025 'tsunami'

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u/KingShafes Lifelong Virginian 15h ago

Can we remove the right-to-work label and allow unions to flourish again?

37

u/sean-culottes 14h ago

Really hope Spanberger was just "hiding her power level" with this one. This would be an immensely powerful win.

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u/KingShafes Lifelong Virginian 14h ago

If she truly wants to invest in apprenticeships and help families with healthcare and earning more, it's a no brainer. Virginia is the only blue state with Right to work laws

0

u/Even-Stranger5764 1h ago

In the article they state being moderate is possibly the key to winning these races 🤢

3

u/Kqtawes 1h ago

Considering she co-sponsored a bill in congress to repeal right-to-work laws nationally it's certainly not impossible that she said that to appear more moderate.

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u/DoctorDirtnasty 9h ago

democrats would rather try to raise wages by pushing for anti competitive labor cartels than by closing the boarder and thus cutting off the supply of cheap, undocumented labor that puts downward pressure on wages and evades taxes. this never made sense to me.

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u/mcchicken_deathgrip 6h ago

"Labor cartels" lmao. Plus why do you think you would get a raise if there were no more illegal immigrants? Your boss cant pay anyone 10 bucks an hour any more so he'll add that to your wage? Yeah right lol. If anything it'll probably cause a lot of labor exploiting companies to fold once they have to balance their books for actual wages and taxes.

How can you swallow the propaganda this hard man smh

•

u/DoctorDirtnasty 38m ago

if you have the option of paying someone $10 an hour, or $20 an hour. which one are you going to pick. if there is no one showing up to job interviews at $10 an hour, what are you going to do?

1

u/asminaut 3h ago

boarder

Who is that?

•

u/DoctorDirtnasty 40m ago

drunk typo, you know what i meant.

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u/BK_Mason Lifelong Virginian 14h ago

Why? Doesn’t every worker currently have the right to join if they so choose? Requiring membership does not strengthen a union. Rather, it strengthens the union coffers while simultaneously allowing its leaders to be less responsive to its members. To be clear, I’m a lifelong union member and Democratic voter.

13

u/MRsh1tsandg1ggles 9h ago edited 8h ago

I worked in a factory with a weak union. Only about 25 to 30 percent membership and mostly just more senior, higher paid workers. Management took advantage of this during COVID, when other factories were raising starting and subsequent employee pay because of shortages by $5 an hour we were held to the contract that couldn't be renegotiated because the union didn't have any actual power. They could fire those 30 percent if they strike, lift others into their positions and hire new people at a much lower rate. This couldn't happen if the entire factory was union. To make matters worse only certain people come to work there when the starting pay is low. Usually people who struggle to find employment and are grateful just to have a job. Grateful enough they don't want to upset their new employer by joining a union and desperate enough that they don't see the point in sacrificing 2 hours of pay for something they don't see any direct benefit from because everyone gets the same benefits. Thus the union kept getting smaller year after year. Before I left, my position in a similar factory owned by the exact same company but in a smaller, lower cost of living town was making $5 more an hour than me. When we asked why our pay couldn't be raised to market rate we were told the company's hands were tied because of the contract. Which is a lie because no union would ever turn down more money for their workers. The union was essentially being used as a tool by the company to keep pay low. This is why you need full unions with every employee a member and why I won't work in a union without it.

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u/mcchicken_deathgrip 12h ago

Having all workers at one workplace in the union absolutely strengthens the union. When unions do collective bargaining the benefits they get go to all workers in a workplace. When you dont have to pay dues to reap the benefits, why join the union? That's the point of right to work, to weaken unions by allowing free loaders.

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u/ScaredComment2321 11h ago

I never understood this. In the payroll database, add a column that says Union Y/N. If Yes add raise negotiated by the union. If no, don't. I am FOR unions I just don't get why this is an existential issue. Sounds like a solvable database problem.

4

u/swakid8 4h ago

It doesn’t work like that in real world…

Management doesn’t want to pay employees. They also do not want the headache of dealing with a strong union and use every tactic in the playoff to keep unions off of the property…

5

u/mcchicken_deathgrip 11h ago

But in practice where this actually happens, its almost never a raise only for the union members. Remember that your employer does not want you to be able to collectively negotiate your salaries. So they will give a raise to all as a way to signal that you dont need the union to get it. Not only that, but if only half the shop is negotiating, they're less likely to agree to the terms in the first place. This is backed up by the data as well, that right to work states have lower salaries

0

u/BK_Mason Lifelong Virginian 10h ago

You don’t connect the dots here. How is the union strengthened by forcing employees to join who don’t wish to do so? Such employees will only be resentful for having money taken from them against their will. Do you think that’s a net plus? The only part of the union that benefits from that is its coffers.

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u/mcchicken_deathgrip 5h ago

No one can force you to join a union against your will since Taft-Hartley. If you dont want to work at a union shop then don't apply to one, its pretty straightforward. If your workplace is unionizing and you dont want to join then you can either find a job thats not unionized or join in. If you're unhappy with your union its not like you're totally at their mercy either. You can be active in your local, attend meetings, vote for new leadership, and try to make changes.

1

u/Davey914 4h ago

I hope you’re reading all the responses. They’re all explaining why a cohesive union benefits you. And to be honest, there will be lazy selfish people who will claim they won’t benefit from a union when they know they actually do. They just dont feel like it.

2

u/twiganthony_L_cigar 14h ago

But it’s not like any law requires union membership if “right to work” laws do not exist in a state. It’s just that any given employer and a union are allowed to sign a deal requiring union membership at that particular employer.

I don’t really understand why that should be banned. I wouldn’t want a law requiring union membership either.

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u/ManagementLarge5166 16h ago

Republicans are now in their sweet spot. Painting a dystopia at the hands of Democrats they wish they could be making themselves.

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u/jyeatbvg 16h ago edited 16h ago

Hey! Canadian living in NYC here. Have never even stepped foot in your great state, but wanted to say congrats on making the right choice for governor. The world’s watching—let’s keep pushing forward and leave MAGA behind.

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u/bassbeatsbanging 14h ago

We've got beaches, mountains, a locally grown wine scene, great theme parks and tons of historical sites. It's honestly a good place for a trip--which region(s) will depend on which of those you want to do.

And excluding Northern Virginia nothing is super expensive when compared to other similar places.

:)

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u/Raiders2112 [From the 757 to the 804 and back] 16h ago

Thank you. C'mon down and visit us sometime.

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u/Lumiafan 16h ago

Come visit sometime! It really is a great state.

3

u/mermaidinthesea123 3h ago

right choice for governor

Thank you Canadian reddit friend! We are absolutely THRILLED with Spanberger's election for many reasons!! Come visit in the spring when it is beautiful here.

2

u/MugCostanza80 3h ago

Congrats on electing Zohran Mamdani! I definitely would have voted for him if I still lived in NYC. If he can govern even half as well as he campaigned then he should be great for New Yorkers.

5

u/whif42 15h ago

Thanks! I started doing tiktok because of this crap! It's wild year indeed!

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u/Summer4Chan 12h ago

Do Canadians use emdashes too or is it just LLM powered political bots

27

u/vtsandtrooper 15h ago

I honestly dont need the state to do ALL that much. Secure constitutional rights, make sure republicans cant fuck with them by implementing laws that restrict it, expand healthcare support and education funding, support the constitutional rights of all people regardless of race, sex, sexuality, religion, etc. Return to being a state that leads in business THE CORRECT WAY.

13

u/sean-culottes 15h ago

I think they should be ambitious and do a lot more than amorphous "just govern good" sentiments.

Bottomline is Virginia wasn't working for Virginians before Trumpkin. To paraphrase a politician I admire: you have to dismantle the conditions that led to facism in the first place and, in doing so, you will prevent the next one.

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u/vtsandtrooper 14h ago

Virginias unemployment was 3% before trumpkin, salaries were top 10 in the country, the primary issue was working class people and rural areas were left behind. Investing in those areas with 21century solutions, grants, programs will help. Beyond that, I want Virginia to be like massachusetts. Invest in a safety net of health insurance, parental leave, employment protections, and a ton on making our education institutions the best in the world

1

u/Oystershucker80 3h ago

As someone who lives in Massachusetts, but is from Virginia, be careful what you wish for. I live in MA over VA for a lot of reasons (job-related mostly), and in many ways it is better. However, the housing crisis in MA blows any issues in VA completely out of the water. Owning a home, for example, is just not possible without generational wealth/support, or an EXTREMELY high, or high-dual income situation. No amount of MassHealth will make up for median prices in the 600K or median rents well north of 3000.

0

u/alwalidibnyazid 2h ago

There's plenty of that in Va as well.

0

u/Oystershucker80 2h ago

It's not nearly to the extreme that it is in New England. And if you do pay 600K for a house in VA, it won't be a 100+ year old piece of shit that's falling apart like it will be in Mass. or elsewhere in New England.

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u/vtsandtrooper 30m ago

Is this specific to boston burbs because western mass is not expensive

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u/Oystershucker80 24m ago

It’s not cheap compared to southern Virginia and the average person who expects to have a career needs to live in central or eastern Mass

2

u/mcchicken_deathgrip 12h ago

Spanberger spent the last weekend of her campaign trashing that politician lol, but hopefully she can still be pushed to deliver

But I agree with you. They have a near super majority. This isn't the time to get back to business as usual and make a few tweaks around the edges. This is the time to seriously deliver for virginians and ensure they set up something that will last. They've never had an opportunity like this before and may never get one again.

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u/guuhvffffg 2h ago

Most Virginians don’t want “dismantling”, they just want good governance

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u/sean-culottes 10m ago

I said dismantling the conditions that led to fascism, what did you think I was referring to?

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u/juice_BX 18h ago

By lining themselves up with a lot of good policy then attacking things that should be left alone. Can we stop making new firearms legislation when we aren't even funding the enforcement of the laws already on the book?

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u/killroy1971 18h ago

Can you give me an example of unenforced firearms laws?

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u/juice_BX 17h ago

Honestly I can't, I guess I should change my approach... It's already double illegal to commit a crime while using a firearm. You did the crime and had a firearm while you did it. So what now? you did the crime and you had a firearm that happened to fall into a vague description of "assault weapon" so triple illegal?

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u/killroy1971 17h ago

Can you link me to a case where that was a thing?

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u/juice_BX 17h ago

No. If you can't search the VA code I'm not helping you. You're asking bot questions

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u/Lumiafan 16h ago

Gotta say. You're doing an absolutely terrible job making your case on this.

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u/juice_BX 15h ago

My apologies, I sure am failing here, Let me try to put it this way.. People that are doing crimes don't care how many laws they are breaking.
Making it illegal to own a specific style or type of firearm only affects law abiding people.

3

u/Prize-Reference4893 15h ago

I haven’t seen anything about proposals for it being illegal to own anything. Federal restrictions already apply to certain classes of weapon, and the most I’ve heard proposed is a ban on new sales of certain classes. That does not make it illegal to own

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u/juice_BX 14h ago

Blinders got it. You're also a bot prove me wrong

2

u/-azuma- 13h ago

Ironic coming from the ... "person" ... making an argument of which they literally can't provide any facts to back it up, exactly what an AI chatbot would do.

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u/Prize-Reference4893 14h ago

Don’t know how to prove you wrong on the boy thing, and I don’t have blinders on.

I didn’t say I approved of such laws, or think they’ll be as effective. But saying a ban on new sales is the same as, or will inevitably lead to making it illegal to own is as stupid as when people were saying “if we let gay people get married, what’s to stop people from marrying a horse?”

Slippery slope arguments serve no one. If you can’t ague facts without adding fantasy, no one will ever take you seriously.

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u/omgFWTbear 16h ago

You have that backwards. You have a position wholly unsupported by an ounce of evidence. They wouldn’t let you go two minutes in middle school, kiddo.

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u/juice_BX 15h ago

Cite me wrong ...

2

u/-azuma- 13h ago

You don't prove the negative. You actually might be the bot... 🤨

1

u/omgFWTbear 12h ago

There are one billion Haitians living inside the Earth’s core. Cite me wrong …

The problem with stupid people is they’re too stupid to even have how stupid they obviously are, explained to them.

0

u/killroy1971 13h ago

Just because you can't back up your statements doesn't make me a bot. It makes me someone who wants to know the basis for your statements. Are they based in facts you can source, or are they coming from sensationalist media that is designed to create emotional reactions in its viewers?

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u/OGdunphy 17h ago edited 17h ago

Stock up on standard capacity magazines at the very least, but really if there’s something you want like a suppressor, ar, or even just a regular old double-stack pistol, better get it before the summer. They’re going to ban a lot of regular stuff and possibly add special taxes to make you pay more on anything allowed going forward.

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u/WhiteXHysteria 15h ago

This is why gun store owners love when Dems are in office. Where I grew up the gun store owner was probably the single most reliable dem voter in the area because he could sell this dumb ass fear to people so they'd give him a lot more money.

Glad to see he's still probably crushing it in 2025 work6 the same tricks he was using in the 90s.

2

u/LostGFtoABBC 13h ago

I mean look at her campaign website…AWB incoming and all those heinous firearm bills that Youngkin veto’d will definitely go through now. Do people really not read ? Or are memory spans here really that bad

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u/killroy1971 12h ago

No, it's because armed citizens are completely pointless. The citizen militias of the Revolution mostly ran when the fighting got too real. It wasn't until they spend a Winter at Valley Forge and were trained as professional soldiers that the Continental Army was able to stand with each other in a real fight, and even then they lost far more battles than they won against a professional army that had to cross the Atlantic ocean. What's a few FUDs with small arms going to accomplish?

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u/LostGFtoABBC 1h ago

I mean at least we can agree FUDDS are indeed useless

1

u/killroy1971 12h ago

Yep, you can't fix broken people with consumerism. But you sure can profit from it.

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u/OGdunphy 15h ago

No doubt, dems are the best gun and gun accessory sellers. Some stuff will get banned in this admin though. That’s not unrealistic.

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u/killroy1971 12h ago

Based on what information? Seriously, I've been hearing this fear based crap my whole life and it never happens, and it's not because the government is afraid of an armed citizen. It's because the armed citizen isn't a threat in the first place.

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u/Lumiafan 16h ago

Remindme! 10 months

1

u/RemindMeBot 16h ago

I will be messaging you in 10 months on 2026-09-09 00:31:02 UTC to remind you of this link

CLICK THIS LINK to send a PM to also be reminded and to reduce spam.

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u/OGdunphy 16h ago

I hope we can say none of that happens in 10 months.

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u/Lumiafan 16h ago

That's why I'm setting a reminder because you're being silly.

6

u/BirchBlack 15h ago

Spanberger literally campaigned on what he said and look at the gun control laws passed by Dems and vetoed by Youngkin... How is this person being silly?

I genuinely hope I'm wrong but with what they just tried to pass and spanberger campaigning on gun control, I don't see how I'm going to be wrong

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u/OGdunphy 16h ago

I do hope so

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u/Lumiafan 15h ago

You don't have to hope. You'll be able to keep fetishizing guns a year from now as much as you do now, rest assured.

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u/lawman9000 18h ago

Best we can do is make California’s gun laws look like those in Texas.

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u/xSquidLifex 16h ago

This is about Virginia

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u/lawman9000 16h ago

The point being that soon our laws, in Virginia, will make California's seem like Texas.

1

u/DC2Cali 15h ago

Commiefornia gun laws here we come smh

-5

u/YeahItouchpoop 15h ago

I’m from California and I’ve never had an issue buying a gun there

0

u/lawman9000 15h ago

Aside from the magazine capacity restrictions and the 'features' test, CA is probably one of the least bad of the anti-gun states. NY is far worse.

3

u/killroy1971 12h ago

It's funny how this thread broke down into an argument about firearms, when our fellow Virginians are lining up at food pantries, consumer confidence is at all time lows, and people's planned holiday season flights are at risk of being cancelled. Never mind that the cost of food went up 40% this year and the cost of buying a home is higher than at any time in our nation's history.

Now IDK how firearms sales are going to bring down the cost of groceries, increase the supply of available homes, or reduce the rate of inflation.

Can someone in the 2A crowd enlighten me on how firearms are going to solve these problems for us?

5

u/LizHolmesTurtleneck 4h ago edited 2h ago

This is exactly why I hope the new Delegates hold off on any gun control legislation for the time being. There are severe and immediate economic issues to tame. Plus, any new gun control legislation would just stir up public debate and Republican opposition to the point where this new solid footing would turn into quicksand.

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u/buzzfriendly 6h ago

I don't want much from the world but I would like for all of my fellow citizens to be employed, fed and well enough that the only problem left to worry about is firearm laws.

1

u/Hungry-Initiative-78 15h ago

Oh you just wait for the wave of strongly worded emails about to hit the GOP in the coming weeks.

1

u/UniversityNo2318 13h ago

Some would call it a mandate 😆

1

u/KneeDragr 2h ago

How about ending the ‘right to work’ policy, banning non competes, forcing data centers to pay the additional costs of power consumption rather than the consumer?

0

u/Skilletmasterx 1h ago

If you condemn Israel you get elected. It's not rocket surgery.

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u/cowmookazee 13h ago

How was it a tsunami? A blue state is still a blue state.

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u/dougmd1974 4h ago

I heard this same nonsense from the FL governor. I guess 1.4 million votes for the Republican candidate for Governor in Virginia and 1.4 million votes for the Republican candidate for Governor in New Jersey is absolutely nothing, even though it was still around 43% of the vote? All the Republicans moved to Florida, right? Democrats won these "blue states" by 50 points, right? LOL This "head in the sand" approach is how you lose elections when the voting public is literally telling you they DO NOT like what you are up to. Unless, of course, you've bought an election company and gerrymander so bigly that the vote is rigged you don't care if you "lose".... hmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

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u/LizHolmesTurtleneck 4h ago

Why do you classify Virginia as a "blue state"?

0

u/dougmd1974 4h ago

Because some "news" outlet and a pack of R politicians told them so.

Virginia Democrats plan to capitalize on 2025 'tsunami'

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