This story was originally published on the Virginia Defender website on September 24, then reproduced in the Autumn 2024 edition of the newspaper, printed November 6. To find other stories in the Autumn 2024 issue or to download the full PDF, see this post. For other issues dating back to 2012, see the Full Issues page.

By Kat McNeal

The South is historically, and currently, home to some of the country’s worst labor laws. In 2023, only 4.3% of workers in Virginia were unionized. Virginia is one of only 10 states to have a unionization rate of less than 5%. Of those, six are in the South.

The Southern Workers Assembly, founded in 2012 and based in North Carolina, is a social justice organization fighting to organize unorganized workers across the South. The SWA uses a system of local assemblies where rank-and-file workers from multiple workplaces and organizations can come together for advice, support and collaboration on larger efforts. SWA is pushing for worker power – people power – because, according to its website, “Once organized, workers can defend everyone.”

There currently are 12 Workers Assemblies in six states. Virginia has two.

The Tidewater Workers Assembly was founded in 2020 when sanitation workers in Virginia Beach spontaneously walked off the job.

“That was what started the idea of getting a workers assembly in Virginia Beach,” says Al Long, a TWA member. With help from a United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) organizer, the assembly was formed and began building ties with local unions and organizing efforts. Long says the TWA is involved in the fight for public sector collective bargaining in cities across the Tidewater region.

The Richmond Workers Assembly formed in the summer of 2022 after several organizers attended one of the SWA’s biyearly Worker Schools in Charlotte. Kat Harville, an RWA coordinating committee member, former union carpenter and current student, says that membership is primarily made up of educators, people in the building trades and workers in the restaurant industry.

Some members are in unions already, while others hope to organize their workplaces. Meetings offer a place to strategize – about unionizing and organizing rank-and-file members within unions to push leadership for more militant action. RWA meetings also include a political education component.

“We invite anybody who is not a boss or a cop to come to a general meeting,” said Harville. “If you are feeling really isolated or really agitated or really abused in your workplace and you don’t have anywhere to turn, we can better support you.”

The Tidewater Workers Assembly can be reached on its Facebook page and at (757) 317-0165.

The Richmond Workers’ Assembly can be reached on Instagram or by email at richmondworkers@riseup.net