Originally published in the Spring 2022 edition of the Virginia Defender, issue 68, printed April 21. Reproduced here for accessibility and archival purposes. To find other stories in the Spring 2022 issue or to download the full PDF, see this post. For other issues dating back to 2012, see the Full Issues page.

Staff Report

As we go to press, city workers in Virginia Beach are preparing to hold a press conference and public speak-out before raising job-related demands April 20 at a city council budget hearing.

According to a press release from the newly-formed Virginia Beach City Workers Union, UE Local 111, the City in March received its full report on the Market Salary Survey conducted by the Segal consulting firm, which made recommendations for adjustments to employee wages.

The union said it is backing many of those recommendations, including a Step Pay Plan that recognizes years of service; reclassification of all pay grades that are more than 5 percent below the market average; and increasing the minimum wage for city employees to $15 per hour.

“We are having lots of workers quit and no one is applying for the open positions because our wages are so low compared to other comparable cities,” said Terry Green, a utility crew Leader and union member.

“I have been working with the city for 32 years and am still hardly above the midpoint of my salary grade. We are essential personnel just like police and fire, and we should be paid a Step Pay Plan just like they are.”

Step Pay Plans, used by some government agencies, assign steps to reflect how long a person has been with the government. Each step increase raises a worker’s pay by a certain percentage. The union recently released its own report comparing Virginia Beach public worker wages with those of workers in similar-sized cities in the Southeast. The report states that the pay range for a Utility Mechanic Aide currently has a mid-point of $37,377, which, according to the union’s study, is $5,060, or 13.5 percent, below the market average. To reach parity, a worker in this position would need a reclassification of three pay grades higher, from a G13 to G16, the report states.

Also, according to the union’s report, Virginia Beach is one of only a few cities its size that does not yet have a minimum wage of $15 per hour. Currently, the report states, 825 city employees make less than that hourly wage.

Last November, the Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis found that nine out of 10 Virginia Beach city employees likely couldn’t afford to support a family at a modest yet adequate standard of living on the wages they currently are paid.

For more information on UE Local 111, see its webpage here.