Questions raised over unions’ rally

Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2003 | 9:26 a.m.

At first glance, the latest target of the Teamsters and three Las Vegas construction unions -- plasterers, pipefitters and painters -- seems unlikely.

The unions announced last Friday that they would hold a rally this week outside the offices of the Las Vegas Valley Water District to "raise awareness of the area's serious water shortage in light of developers' plans to build 23,000 homes."

However, some observers said the real target did not appear to be water as much as Las Vegas' home-building companies, which are almost completely nonunion.

"It strikes me as strange for them to picket an organization that already has a union contract," said Monica Caruso, spokeswoman for the Southern Nevada Home Builders Association. "It also strikes me that I've never heard of a union to take action to slow down job growth.

"It is a continuing effort to force the residential construction industry to go union," she said.

Caruso strongly emphasized that her association has unions as members, and both union and nonunion companies under the association umbrella.

However, the association four weeks ago was the target of a similar Teamster-led picketing drive, she said.

The Water District provides water to urban, unincorporated Clark County and Las Vegas. It shares offices with the Southern Nevada Water Authority, which provides wholesale water to the regional distributors in Clark County and the cities of Las Vegas, Henderson, North Las Vegas and Boulder City, but does not issue water permits. Both agencies are union shops.

Ray Isner, political coordinator of Teamsters Local 631, said a coalition billing itself Raising the Standard of Liberty will nonetheless picket outside the agency's offices at Valley View and Charleston boulevards Wednesday.

"We're having the rally to make water an issue that people are talking about," Isner said.

His group criticized the region's water agencies for instituting policies to conserve water, measures that the Water Authority says are needed to respond to four years of drought that has caused water levels to drop in Lake Mead.

In a written release, the Teamsters asked "where the money will come from to bring in the needed water supply, in light of the already existing shortage of funds available to adequately pay for law enforcement personnel and firefighters."

The Teamsters also predicted that retirees and other homeowners will be forced to conserve more water or pay more for water.

"Teamsters and the coalition are calling on the Water District to control growth in the housing industry now, rather than wait for an impact study that will inevitably show the need to increase the cost of water and impose further conservation restrictions on existing homeowners, not to mention tax increases to pay for additional police and firefighters to service the new residents," the release said.

"The unions feel that homebuilders in this, America's fastest growing community, should take some responsibility in such a profitable environment and consider slowing their building plans."

Isner said the 8,000 individual members are not trying to stop commercial development, the source of the region's job growth.

"It's not about stopping growth or a moratorium on growth," he said. "We don't hear enough out there about what we're going to do about this.

Isner criticized the public process for the adoption of water-conservation measures, including the one-day-a-week watering rule that came into effect this week. He said the decisions creating and enacting the conservation policies, enforced by local governments throughout the urban area, were created "behind closed doors."

Vince Alberta, spokesman for the Water Authority and Water District, disagreed.

"There has been a tremendous amount of dialogue and discussion about the drought plan," Alberta said. "This has been discussed for approximately one year.

"We have had public meetings. We have had citizen advisory committees. Our meetings are broadcast over the Internet ... We have a very open process."

Additionally, the conservation rules in Clark County and the cities were adopted in public meetings of the areas governing boards, he said.

Isner said public meetings should be held on weekends to give more people a chance to attend.

"We just don't feel there's been enough dialogue," Isner said. "We want a seat at the table when these things are discussed."

Danny Thompson, executive secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO Nevada, was at the table for much of the discussion on the conservation measures. He was a member of the Water Authority citizens advisory committee on drought restrictions, which has recommended new conservation rules if the lake levels continue to fall.

Thompson did not return phone calls Monday. Leaders from other unions either did not immediately return calls or declined to speak on the record.

Alberta said the Water Authority or Water District is not looking for a scrap with the Teamsters.

"We have always had a great relationship with the unions," he said.