In today’s News and Commentary, UC workers narrowly avoid striking with an 11th-hour agreement, Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger vetoes public employee collective bargaining protections, and Samsung workers prepare for an 18-day strike.

On Thursday morning, the University of California and its medical and service workers reached a tentative agreement just hours before the union was set to begin an open-ended strike. AFSCME Local 3299, which represents nearly 40,000 UC system employees, had already struck five times since negotiations began in January 2024 amidst allegations by the union that the UC was bargaining in bad faith. High housing costs around UC campuses and hospitals, particularly in Los Angeles and the Bay Area, had been a sticking point in the bargaining process. If approved by membership, the contract would raise the hourly wage of the unit’s lowest-paid workers from $25 to $30.10 by 2029, limit healthcare premium and parking increases, and expand layoff protections. Local 3299 President Michael Avant said that the agreement “means UC’s most vulnerable workers will no longer have to choose between paying for healthcare and paying for groceries.”

Also on Thursday, Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger vetoed legislation that would have enshrined the right of Virginia’s public employees to collectively bargain without obtaining approval from their localities and school boards. Though Governor Spanberger had expressed support for similar initiatives while in office and on the campaign trail, she initially sought amendments to the bill, which Virginia’s Senate Majority Scott Surrovell described as “a total rewrite.” Her proposal, which an Economic Policy Institute Worker Economics Blog analysis said “falls woefully short [of progress] and could even represent a step backwards for some workers,” was rejected by Virginia’s General Assembly in April. This week’s veto was met with criticism from union leadership and activists ranging from AFSCME and the SEIU to UVA faculty, who expressed disappointment in the governor’s “betrayal” after she received organized labor’s support during her campaign. Conversely, the Virginia Assembly’s Republican leadership praised her decision. 

Finally, negotiations between Samsung management and its workers stalled this week ahead of the strike set to begin May 21. On Friday, Samsung proposed another bargaining session about “pay talks without conditions,” but the South Korean union said it would only be willing to hold another session in June, after the 18-day strike has concluded. With more than 45,000 workers set to participate, the strike “has triggered worries within the government, rattled foreign investors and threatened global supply chains,” as Samsung stands to lose between $14 billion and $20.79 billion in operating profit during the strike. Global markets have already responded to the uncertainty, with the company losing “as much as 99.07 trillion won ($66.18 billion) in market value on Wednesday” after announcing its failure to reach an agreement with the union, a loss reversed only after Prime Minister Kim Min Seok committed to providing support to avert the strike. The 18-day timeframe wasn’t an arbitrary choice; the Economic Times reported that it would only take 18 days “to crash the global AI chip market.” The Suwon District Court is set to rule on Samsung’s request for an injunction on May 20.