The Virginia Worker

VIRGINIA BEACH, VIRGINIA: Virginia Beach city workers held a rally and press conference at City Hall on Tuesday, January 18, demanding a real voice for safety, dignity, living wages and an end to institutional racism on the job. The members of newly formed Virginia Beach City Workers Union, UE Local 111, were joined by supporters…

There’s no need to argue with anti-maskers. You might have noticed that these people’s minds are impervious to logic. It’s not the “concerned parents” we need to appeal to – it’s the right to a workplace that is hazard-free that we must invoke. Untold thousands of workers in America have been tortured and murdered by…

This speech was delivered on Monday, January 24th by Patrick Miller – President of the Henrico Education Association – on recent changes of COVID policy and the HEA’s demands for workplace safety We have been told time and time again that these times we are currently doing our best to survive are “unprecedented.” I disagree.…

For the Virginia Worker editorial board, a statement by board member Sal Rojo, founding member of New River Workers Power and active participant in the Marxist Center network, on its recent dissolution The recent announcement of the Marxist Center’s dissolution should come as no surprise to anyone involved. Since its formal inception back in 2018…

David Frost is a writer in The Writers’ Bloc and an organizer with Roanoke Peoples’ Power Network Virginia has the highest discrepancy between teacher pay and comparatively educated professionals out of any state in the country. Teachers will get a raise of five percent this year and five percent next year. However, this year’s five…

Hugh Stephenson contributes this report on the state of the Sentara/RMH hospital in Harrisonburg, Virginia. He is a member of Socialist Resurgence The world is entering its third year of covid-19. Gone are the “Ra Ra Front Line Workers” headlines of the bourgeois press. Gone are gratitudes by Democratic and Republican Party politicians for front…

Josh Armstead is a worker militant with UNITE HERE Local 23, organizing in the DMV Area I will admit I am not a Virginian, but there was a time when my family were Virginians, migrating every so often to escape the violence of the KKK and racism from deeper parts of the South, before settling…

The Richmond Tenants Defense Council is an organization in the Richmond area which brings together working-class tenants and community members to build power.  The following interview is a conversation between two founding members of RTDC about the organization’s history and its future.  It was originally printed in the first issue of RTDC’s tenant newsletter. L:…

FROM THE EDITORIAL BOARD OF THE VIRGINIA WORKER The Virginia Worker recently published an article by the Communist League of Richmond (CLR), and a response by Shama Bismas, the latter of which contained harsh criticisms of the Shenandoah Socialist Collective (SSC). In the interest of fairness, we are publishing a brief response by SSC.  SSC’s…

The Hidden History of Richmond’s Labor Movement For 150 years, Richmond’s place in history has been as “the capital of the Confederacy.”  But this label hides a rich and complex history, a history that, when placed in conversation with the present, can provide insight, inspiration, and direction.  Join Peter Rachleff for a presentation of one…