The Virginia Worker

This contribution is courtesy of Roanoke Peoples Power Network on the history of private policing stemming from one of the most notorious cop agencies – The Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency Virginia had no public local police force until 1932. Before then policing was almost totally a private affair. The protection of private property and reinforcing the…

The question of a workers’ party is crucial for the Virginia working class. Until there is a workers’ party the class will remain disorganized and impotent against the two ruling class parties in our state. To seek further clarity and grounds for unity across organizations, the Editorial Board of The Virginia Worker has recently surveyed…

After months of red tape a union election was finally set for Bridges Starbucks Workers in June, winning their election unanimously 14-0. The following is an interview with a Starbucks partner since their victory. The Virginia Worker: Firstly, congratulations on your sweeping victory with your election, it’s been several months since we last spoke. Last…

With the recent overturning of Roe v. Wade by SCOTUS people are clamoring to fight back and ensure the right to abortion. But is this enough? Virginia Worker Editorial Board member Sal Rojo argues it’s not We’ve all heard the demand for a “right to an abortion.”  But the mere recognition of such a formal…

In April Movement Climbing Gym in Arlington, Virginia became the first ever climbing gym in the United States to become unionized. The following is an interview with union members Wendy and Slyvain on what led workers to unionize and the current situation in their campaign for collective bargaining The Virginia Worker: Could you provide some…

Christopher Sloce, socialist writer and co-host of the It Can Be Done podcast brings us Can Chainsaws Break Bricks. This is the second installment of The Culture Column, a new bi-monthly series criticizing the culture we have so we can create the culture we want. As Dante, the entrepreneur and secondary villain of Texas Chainsaw…

CHRISTIANSBURG, VA: Target workers at Store 1292 have petitioned for collective bargaining with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) after Target Corporation issued no response to a request for voluntary recognition on April 26th, 2022. Workers have also filed unfair labor practice charges in relation to store management‘s violations of the prior NLRB settlement stemming…

Keith Jay, community organizer and worker in southwestern Virginia, makes their case on the importance of organizing in Appalachia Appalachia appears, at first sight, an extremely obvious, trivial thing. Of course, Marx was referring to commodity fetishism when he conceived of those critical words in the first volume of his groundbreaking work, Capital. Nevertheless, after…

RICHMOND, VA – Spirits were high on Sunday, April 24th at the National in Downtown Richmond as supporters of Starbucks Workers United gathered to celebrate the union’s historic victories in five stores in the Richmond area. While Unity Fest’s musical acts and speakers like Bernie Sanders undoubtedly captivated the audience, Starbucks workers themselves drew the…

TN Long reports on the ongoing struggle by Columbia Gardens tenants against mass evictions triggered by a wave of gentrification stemming from Amazon’s new HQ2 site La ColectiVA, an immigrant rights group in Arlington, VA, serving the local Latin American community, hosted a vigil outside the Columbia Gardens apartments for the remaining two families at…