RICHMOND, Va. (AP)- On a party line vote, the Virginia Senate has killed a measure that would write the state's longstanding right-to-work law into its constitution.
Republican Sen. Dick Black's resolution won the support of all 20 Republicans, but the opposition of the Senate's 20 Democrats. A majority of 21 votes was the minimum required for passage.
Black called it a pro-business principle so cherished in Virginia that it should be in its constitution.
But Democratic Sen. Don McEachin noted that there has never been an effort by either party to repeal the law that allows for compulsory union membership as a condition of employment in some trades.
Fellow Democratic Sen. Dick Saslaw said the constitution should be reserve for weighty matters of governance, "not the issue du jour."
