Striking Lewis Ginter employees removed from the nonprofit's healthcare plan

As an employee strike at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden enters its second month, the nonprofit is removing striking employees from its healthcare plan.

In a statement on Thursday night, the garden said that the decision does not affect employees who have continued reporting to work during the strike.

"The law does not require employers to continue paying wages or unaccrued benefits to striking workers who are not actively working," a spokesperson wrote. "Earlier this summer, the Garden informed employees on multiple occasions that medical benefits could be affected by a strike.

"The Garden was hopeful the strike would end before suspending the employer-paid portion of inactive employees’ benefits."

It continued: "While they are on strike, employees may elect to continue coverage through COBRA. All active employees are still receiving the employer-paid portion of their benefits, as will striking workers as soon as they return to work."

The workers are represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. Employees voted to unionize in November 2024, but negotiations since that time have not resulted in an agreement.

The union has said employees are currently paid an average wage of $17.52 per hour. In a Thursday press release, the group noted that MIT's Living Wage Calculator defines a living wage in Richmond as $23.36 per hour for a single person with no children.

Striking employees have kept a picket line in front of the garden for the past month. Lewis Ginter has asked for an injunction prohibiting the protestors from engaging in “unlawful conduct,” which has not yet been ruled on.

In the press release, garden employee Laura Lee Folman said the garden is not negotiating in good faith.

“Lewis Ginter pays us poverty wages so low we cannot afford basic necessities, and nearly all of us have or currently do face food and housing insecurity,” she wrote. “Responding to Lewis Ginter’s highly skilled and committed employees asking that our jobs pay us enough to live on by ripping away our ability to get life-saving prescriptions and daily medications we and our families rely on flies in the face of every value Lewis Ginter and our larger Richmond community stands for.”

On Thursday, the union said that the public has "resoundingly sided with strikers," saying garden attendance has dropped sharply since the strike began.

Lewis Ginter CEO Brian Trader said in an August email to supporters that the conflict has been costly. He said the organization had lost "tens of thousands of dollars in revenue" at that point in time.

Contact Michael Phillips at mphillips@richmonder.org.