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Virginia
Unions
Paid leave
Immigration FAQ
Proposed state legislation to extend full, equal collective bargaining rights to all state and local government workers can help Virginia:
- Reduce the state’s large public-sector pay gap
- Improve public services
- Reduce staff vacancies and turnover
- Decrease racial and gender disparities
This transformative legislation can help improve the quality of public services and economic outcomes for all Virginians.
Related
- The public-sector pay gap is widening. Unions help shrink it
- Strong unions, stronger communities
- Unions aren’t just good for workers—they also benefit communities and democracy
- Disinvestment in the public sector undermines opportunities for Black women across the South
- Rooted in Racism: The failed Southern economic development model
When unions are strong, workers have more power and communities thrive.
Building union density is not just a worker or workplace issue, but it is also a mechanism to uplift families and communities. In the face of rising inequality and authoritarianism, unions organize, educate, and mobilize working people to defend voting rights, push back against disinformation, and expand civic participation.
Rebuilding worker power by strengthening unions is not just good policy—it is a democratic imperative in the face of authoritarian backsliding.
Paid Family and Medical Leave and paid sick leave laws have passed at state and local levels in record numbers over the last few years. New evidence is building support for a benefit that workers have long known about, and employers are only recently getting hip to: Paid leave is a key work support that may increase employment and workforce attachment.
Many state governments in the South have passed policies that only provide paid parental benefits for some public employees which leaves a long way to go for a comprehensive paid family and medical leave program.
All workers in the South—and their employers—would benefit from a comprehensive paid leave policy.
Related
- Southern policymakers leave workers with lower wages and a fraying safety net
- By repealing paid sick leave, Missouri state legislators will hurt working families
- Paid sick leave supports working families, improves workers’ health and the economy
- Access to paid sick leave continues to grow but remains highly unequal by geography and wage level
- Economic Research and Analysis Network (EARN) in the South
Immigration is among the most important economic and political issues and a main topic of discourse and debate among policymakers and the public. But misperceptions persist about many fundamental aspects of this crucial topic, especially unauthorized immigrants.
Understand the background and facts around immigration, the impact on the economy, visa types, and law enforcement.
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Over 8.3 million workers will benefit from minimum wage increases on January 1: Nineteen states will raise their minimum wages. Here’s where.
EPI in the news
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School systems have encountered a similar shortage, tracking a 9.5% decrease in bus drivers from 2019 to 2025, according to the economic policy institute.
Cardinal News (Virginia) | January 20, 2026 -
The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) argues that the prospects for national reparations are currently weak, but there is movement at the local level. They list some 40 localities that had reparations initiatives as of December 2024.
EPI offers a reasonable set of criteria for what constitutes reparations at the state and local levels.
Roanoke Tribune | January 20, 2026 -
Not only are many gig workers earning less, they may not even be earning minimum wage. A study from the Economic Policy Institute found about one in seven workers (14%) earned less than the federal minimum wage on an hourly basis.
MoneyWise | January 20, 2026 -
The article leaves out Bureau of Labor Statistics data but quotes the aptly described “progressive think tank” Economic Policy Institute, known as EPI. The think tank states that raising the federal minimum wage is “critical for improving affordability.”
It’s simple enough to say, but it isn’t that easy.
San Antonio Express-News | January 20, 2026 -
Even entry-level workers have seen some progress. According to the Economic Policy Institute, real wages for young adults have grown 9.1% since 2020, faster than for older workers. However, those gains haven’t translated into stability.
GO Banking Rates | January 20, 2026 -
The teacher pay penalty — the relative gap between the weekly wages of teachers and other college graduates — grew to a record 26.9% in 2024, according to a new report from the Economic Policy Institute and the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR).
Las Cruces Sun News | January 20, 2026 -
Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, noted that as more workers grab more positions, it could become even more difficult for the unemployed to break into a labor market where the hiring rate is at its lowest since April 2020 and, absent the pandemic, at a level not seen since 2013.
Yahoo Finance | January 20, 2026
HOLDING THE LINE
Federal worker protections are under attack. The crisis calls for urgent action. Get the state solutions →
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