Union official cut off during testimony

Thursday, May 16, 2002 | 9:13 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A brouhaha erupted at a meeting Wednesday of the Governor's Task Force on Tax Policy between two panel members and a Culinary Union official in Las Vegas whose testimony was cut off.

A day before the union met for a strike authorization vote, the hearing was marred by sharp exchanges between two panel members, one who negotiates for a casino team, and Courtney Alexander, research director for the Culinary Union.

Alexander was temporarily silenced when she refused to stop talking. After a recess and tempers cooled, Alexander was allowed to complete her testimony.

She was in Las Vegas and started to testify via television to Carson City. She was initially cautioned by Task Force Chairman Guy Hobbs to stick to tax policy issues. Hobbs wanted to stick to issues facing the panel, which is studying possible changes to the state's tax system.

The Culinary Union is threatening to strike 35 hotels on the Strip and in downtown Las Vegas if a new contract is not signed by the end of this month.

Alexander said the casinos want workers to start paying for their insurance and not seek a pay raise for the first year of the contract. Culinary workers have saved the casino millions of dollars in the past, she said. Task Force member Mike Sloan, a senior vice president at Mandalay Bay, questioned that statement. Alexander said union members average $12 per hour or $24,000 a year. Sloan told her however that tip employees at his casino report $9,000 to $10,000 a year more in tokes.

Alexander replied some employees don't earn tips. As she continued, Task Force member Eva Garcia-Mendoza, a Las Vegas attorney, told Alexander this is "an internal battle between you and the industry. It's an attempt by you (Alexander) to lobby and get publicity for the union," and had nothing to do with the business of the task force. After the meeting, Sloan called it a "publicity stunt" that "had nothing to do with what we were talking about."

Hobbs reminded Alexander this was a tax committee. Alexander promised to show the tie-in with the state revenues. As Alexander continued, Sloan told her, "If you're going to testify, tell the truth -- tell the truth."

Alexander never slowed down despite several attempts by task force members to interrupt. Hobbs then called a recess in the middle of her testimony. When the recess was called, Sloan, Garcia-Mendoza and Russ Fields, a representative of the mining industry from Reno, walked out of the room in Carson City. But Alexander kept talking. The video hookup between Las Vegas and Carson City was then terminated by Hobbs. "That was outrageous," Alexander said. "They clearly didn't feel they needed to hear from us." She said the panel appeared to want to "shut off the voice" of 50,000 casino workers.

She said she kept talking because she couldn't hear the comments from Sloan and Hobbs. Alexander said she was angry because a state employee came into the room after panel members had recessed and told her he was told to pull the plug on her microphone. Sloan and other panel members in Carson City said no orders were given to turn off the microphone.

Sloan said it was clear Alexander could hear the panel, so members decide to take a recess and work it out.

After the recess of about 8 minutes, the video connection was restored and Alexander was still at the table.

"I have never experienced anything like that in my life. I am deeply offended," she told the committee.

Hobbs replied, "I apologize for any offense taken. But things got out of hand."

Alexander continued her testimony, saying that forcing the union members to pay more of their health insurance could result in more of them asking for medical care from the state. She suggested that the state would lose $800,000 a week in tax revenue if the unions struck. She urged the committee to make sure that private industry continues to fund the health insurance benefits of workers. The cost of benefits, she said should not be shifted to the state in such programs as Medicaid or Check-Up, which insures children of the working poor.

Sloan later said he heard from another panel member who said Alexander "made a good case why they shouldn't go on strike."