Virginia's one of the toughest states in which to organize a union – but union organizers from Newport News to the western reaches of the state feel they're on a roll these days.
"Sometimes, in the day to day, you don't see it, but from the 20,000-foot view, Virginia's looking good," said AFL-CIO national president Richard Trumka, after speaking to the state labor federation's biennial convention on Friday.
In the past year, union organizers won the right to represent shipyard engineers at Newport News Shipbuilding, and 470 workers at Nestle's cookie dough and pasta plant in Danville, he said.
