CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) — There was a mix of optimism and frustration during the second annual Labor in the Park event at IX Art Park on Sunday.

The event, hosted by the Charlottesville-Albemarle Labor Council, brought together nine local labor organizations and gave them the opportunity to connect and rally with each other.

While the event was not specifically focused on the historic collective bargaining bill that is currently awaiting a signature or veto from Governor Abigail Spanberger, many of the union leaders who spoke during the event still took the opportunity to urge the governor to sign the legislation into law.

But there was also frustration expressed during the event by members of the United Campus Workers of Virginia’s UVA Chapter over the removal of campus workers from the bill by the House of Delegates in February. That frustration was made clear by Ian Mullins, an Associate Professor in Sociology at UVA and UCWVA-UVA Executive Board member, who interrupted 55th District Del. Amy Laufer (D-Albemarle) during her remarks.

“Why did you take us out of the bill?” he shouted repeatedly, along with other questions.

The frustration from Mullins and his fellow UCWVA members stems from Laufer’s role on the House of Delegates Appropriations Committee, the same committee that removed campus workers from the bill.

“We worked really hard to get Democratic candidates elected during the last election cycle,” Mullins told Cville Right Now after the event, “and it is incredibly frustrating to see them go to Richmond and then do the same thing that a Republican would.”

Mullins called the removal of campus workers from the bill “an incredible insult,” and “incredible damaging to us.” UCWVA-UVA Chapter Chair Gabriel Costello shared Mullins sentiment.

“We’re disappointed,” Costello told Cville Right Now. “We want to see [Laufer] advocate for us. We’ve gone out and knocked doors for her. It’s time for her to support us in reciprocity. And rhetoric is great. Saying you support a union, saying you support the campus workers is great, but we can’t do anything with rhetoric. We need a contract. We need collective bargaining rights.”

On stage, Laufer stayed polite, thanking Mullins for bringing up the topic.

“I know there’s been a lot of discussion,” she said to the crowd. “We’re not done, as I keep saying. We’ve got to keep fighting and I encourage all of you to reach out to the Governor and please come and talk with me.”

Laufer later spoke with Mullins, but he said she didn’t say much during the conversation. Afterward, Laufer told Cville Right Now she wants to “be supporting all of our workers.”

“This is a really tough time right now, with all that’s going on,” she said. “And [I] definitely know at the University of Virginia, particularly, it’s been a really rocky year. So, I appreciate their advocacy and I look forward to working with them.

Laufer was one of three elected officials and candidates to speak at the event, the other two being Democratic Congressional Candidate Tom Perriello and Albemarle County School Board member Jim Dillenbeck. There were a number of other political figures in attendance as well, including Del. Katrina Callsen (D-Charlottesville), Charlottesville City Council members Lloyd Snook and Jen Fleisher and Albemarle Supervisor Bea LaPisto-Kirtley.

But the focus of the event was on the unions and their members. Matthew Ray, the lead shop steward at Charlottesville Area Transit for the Amalgamated Transit Union, told Cville Right Now the event was all about solidarity between the unions. He said last year’s event helped connect ATP with other union and as a result, they began to support and show up for each other in their respective efforts.

“This is all about solidarity together,” Ray said, “because we all support each other.”

As such, Ray said he not only supported Spanberger signing the collective bargaining bill so more transit workers across the state will have an opportunity to unionize in their localities, but he was also willing to provide any support to the UCWVA in its efforts to collectively bargain, calling it “a travesty that they can’t be unionized.” He also praised Mullins for questioning Laufer, calling it “right on point,” and joking that he was close to “jumping up myself in solidarity with him.”

“The only people benefiting from them not unionizing is the universities themselves. These are public universities, publicly funded universities, and they don’t want to pay their workers,” he said. “What are you scared of? Pay your workers. They’re asking for a seat at the table. Give then a seat at the table. They should have a seat at the table.”