City of Richmond employees are calling on Mayor Levar M. Stoney to come back to the bargaining table and ensure their first union contract can be implemented.

Their message rang out throughout the city Tuesday afternoon, as a crowd of about 60 city employees and their supporters rallied at City Hall.

“We as workers deserve the opportunity,” Mavis Green, who works in the Department of Public Works, said as he addressed the crowd. “We need to become one city again, and the way we’re going to become one city again is if we get this collective bargaining and people start treating others the way they want to be treated.”

The rally was organized by Teamsters Local 322, which represents 600 employees in the Department of Public Works, Department of Public Utilities, Parks and Recreation and Planning and Development Review.

Speeches and chants of “No contract, no peace!” filled the air as tractor trailers from Teamsters unions in Pennsylvania, New York, Indianapolis, and Kentucky’s Joint Council circled City Hall for about an hour, with horns blaring in support.

City employees gained collective bargaining rights in July 2022, when Richmond City Council approved extending those rights to municipal workers. However, Local 322 says the Stoney administration has “stonewalled” scheduling negotiations and turned down their proposals.

“It is critical that the mayor’s administration comes to the table and bargains in good faith,” Local 322 President and Political Director Brian Peyton said. “Anything less is an affront to taxpayers and is disrespectful to the hard-working people that keep this city running.”

The rally came to City Hall following other calls and actions for better labor agreements, including a nationwide strike by dockworkers that ended last Thursday.

Another labor group, Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ, also has called out the low wages and lack of basic benefits for contracted cleaning and security workers in Richmond.

While SEIU 32BJ and Local 322’s recent efforts for better worker rights aren’t closely connected, both groups are on good terms, and some SEIU members were present at the rally to show their support.

Also present for the rally was City Council member and mayoral candidate Andreas Addison, City Council member Reva Trammell, Richmond School Board member and City Council candidate Kenya Gibson, School Board candidate Ali Faruk and mayoral candidate Harrison Roday.

Some of them spoke during the rally, affirming their support for the workers’ efforts and celebrating their vital roles for the City of Richmond.

“When something is broken, wrong, needs to be picked up or fixed, it is you we depend on to get this done,” Addison said. “The least you deserve is to have this contract signed as soon as possible.”

In a statement, a spokesperson for the Mayor’s Office touted Stoney’s record advocating for collective bargaining at the state level and the city’s status as the southernmost locality to implement collective bargaining in Virginia.

They also pointed to the need to ensure other employee groups aren’t given unequal agreements as the reason for the delay in the negotiations, which they say the administration has participated in with good faith and respect for the process.

“We recognize that the employees in this unit perform important work for city residents. The city wants a fair contract with the Teamsters and remains steadfast in our commitment to negotiating an agreement for our employees in the labor and trades unit,” the spokesperson said.