Fairfax Workers Coalition

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Fairfax Workers Coalition Welcome to The Fairfax Workers Coalition page. We were established as a viable alternative for worker

09/11/2026

God morning all. This is a day to remember, reflect, and remind ourselves of who we are and what we want to be.

25 years ago, I was getting off work after 24 hours around 0700 as EMS 6 on A shift at station 11 (Penn Daw). Unlike today, it was a beautiful morning.

I had to drive into DC that
Morning to take Jene to work, and passed back into Virginia past the Pentagon about 20 minutes or so before we heard that something had struck the Pentagon. I called Jene and she got out before the subways shut down.

The reports were coming in from New York and shortly after from Pennsylvania.

The country was changing forever, and the changes continue to this day.

Like everyone I knew, without being ordered, we returned to our posts to help, to be assigned wherever we might be needed. I never heard a single complaint or anything except a universal desire to be part of a group to stand up
And serve.

In my lifetime before and since I never felt more unity of purpose and solidarity. And an answer to what it meant to be a citizen, and to be free- and to fight for it.

Ultimately I was placed as fill in at Station 18 (Jefferson) and to be ready to relieve those at work at the Pentagon as needed.

While the horror was felt everywhere so was the resolve. There was never a doubt we would get through this.

But my mind goes back always to Shanksville, where brave people who had never
Met each before saved the country by sacrificing themselves in a Pennsylvania field.

Today, and all days, remember this sacrifice and resolve to resist the greed and selfishness that seems to often to be our new normal. By standing up
For those who need your voice, and your help, you can honor those who made it possible. And take a quiet moment to reflect, remember and remind yourselves of not just who we are but who we want to be, and must strive to be.

With all that we face, it’s still simple to do the right thing.

Thanks for reading, and everyone stay safe and take care

Dave Lyons and the whole FWC Family.

It’s Labor Day 2026, and it’s important that we remember what this is about as we celebrate American workers.Begin in th...
09/07/2026

It’s Labor Day 2026, and it’s important that we remember what this is about as we celebrate American workers.

Begin in the 1880’s, as the struggle
For shorter working hours and safer
Conditions intensified, it was driven by an ideal of solidarity and resolve to stand up to the monopolies of wealth built by exploiting workers.

Much has happened since then to enhance, as well as change (not always for the better) the labor movement.

Americans believe in the ideal of labor unions. But they do not always believe in the actual organizations.

For me, the ideal is best expressed in the sister and brotherhood exemplified by helping those in need. If wrong is done to your fellow worker, but not to you, it should feel just as wrong.

Unions, like any other organizations, can become corporate forces for control, enmeshed in bureaucracy, focused on power, control, and money $$.

Here in Fairfax County , the current controlling union (SEIU 512) chose this Labor Day to increase its dues an average of 450%. County workers who belong found their Friday Labor Day checks robbed of their recent cost of living raise, seeing it go into Seiu’s already deep pockets, paying for large salaries for its mostly non Fairfax staff and politicians they don’t support.

This is what turns people off on joining unions. Poor service and exploitation- getting a contract whose primary achievement is to rip off workers.

FWC is not perfect. But we try and focus on the ideal and true meaning of Unions. Not what we can get but what we give- not to ourselves but to others.

There are workers faced with dangerous conditions at our landfills, at our sewage treatment plants, in our social services and many places.

They are whiplashed by food costs, gasoline prices , health care premiums, and childcare costs.

The last thing they needed was a union taking an average of 450% more in dues- 1.75% of your pay- for themselves., and then
Threatening workers with forcing them to keep paying if they quit. (Fortunately FWC stopped this in Circuit Court- they can’t do it now.)

All in the name of “Labor Power”.

Labor power belongs to you- not the privileged few.

This Labor Day, let’s remember the Ideal of Union brother and sisterhood.

Reach out and help others- not just ourselves.

Take care, stay safe,

Dave Lyons and all of us at FWC
[email protected]
571-991-5386

07/31/2026

Dues for FWC are not going up. Unfortunately, we can't say the same for other organizations.

07/31/2026

What are your thoughts about increased dues costs for Fairfax County employees? And while we are on the topic, we are here to assure you that FWC dues will remain $10 a paycheck regardless of your salary.

07/04/2026

A happy and safe Fourth of July to all county employees and their families.
And thanks to all the support we are getting . It’s clear to me that Fairfax workers believe in their First Amendment rights and their right to self determination.

Regardless of your political disposition the reality is we agree
On more things than we
Disagree. This country believes in freedom of speech and freedom
Of association.

The fact America has endured, and changed, is proof that while the reality falls short of the ideal, we have to stay true to our core belief in freedom.

Many of this nations’ founders began with the knowledge of the contradiction inherent in their words: that slavery was wrong, denying rights to women was wrong, and denial of freedoms to human beings could not endure. The bill
Was paid through suffering and bloodshed.

The uniqueness of the American experiment is that we have the ability to change- often by using the
Same words written 250 years ago.

Fairfax County employees have seen their workplace lose freedom of choice. They have seen organizations and governments try to limit their basic rights- trying to force them to pay dues to an organization they don’t want even if they quit that organization. They have been bombarded with untruths and false promises, with the cooperation and support of county government, all to
Satisfy the greed and power lust of a few.

They’re are more cameras than ever , more invasiveness than ever. People being disciplined for words uttered in private.

Yet we are confident that this will never prevail. Because there is a spirit of freedom that cannot be killed.

And we will kept fighting for it.

On this 250th birthday, let’s remember the Ideal and keep fighting for it. That’s up to all of us.

From all of in the FWC Family, here’s wishing you a safe and happy Fourth. 🇱🇷🇱🇷🇱🇷

07/03/2026

FWC recently had a circuit court victory that protects employees from forcible dues collection. This is huge!

Address

3900 Jermantown Road Suite 420
Fairfax, VA
22030

Telephone

+15719915386

Website

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