Labor not leaving AFL-CIO in Nevada

Cy Ryan and Alana Roberts

Tuesday, July 26, 2005 | 11:11 a.m.

While a battle rages nationally over the AFL-CIO, a Nevada labor official says unions remain united in this state and will not be splintered by the national fight.

Danny Thompson, executive director of the Nevada State AFL-CIO, said today there "is no problem in Nevada."

The state board of directors of the AFL-CIO had a meeting in Nevada last week and all wanted to stay united, he said.

But that may be impossible as it is now.

A coalition of unions is pushing for change in the AFL-CIO at the group's annual convention this week, and that has led to two major unions -- the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the Service Employees International Union -- from disaffiliating themselves from the national AFL-CIO.

The current AFL-CIO constitution bars unions that are disaffiliated with the national union from being affiliated at the state level.

That could be critical in Nevada where, Thompson said, 80 percent of the AFL-CIO members in Nevada belong to the Teamsters, Culinary, SEIU and laborer organizations. Those unions are all part of the coalition pushing the AFL-CIO to change and focus on recruiting and strengthening the labor movement.

Leaders of the coalition have said they hope to continue working with the state organizations.

A resolution that would allow disaffiliated unions to work with the AFL-CIO at the state level is set to be voted on at the convention either today or Wednesday.

If it doesn't pass, however, "the other option would be to create a new organization," Thompson said.

"I think my executive board is prepared to do that," he said.

D. Taylor, secretary-treasurer of Culinary Union Local 226, said his union is committed to the state AFL-CIO.

"The state federation coordinates the labor movement in a lot of the lobbying efforts," Taylor said. "It's the voice of labor around the state and speaks to state, county and local governments on behalf of local workers depending on what the local issues are."

Thompson, whose Nevada AFL-CIO represents 165,000 workers, said "nobody wins" in these disputes. But he said there have been no complaints from local unions in Nevada.

Labor was "on the same page" during the last session of the Legislature, he said.

He said this national schism would not hurt efforts in the state to pass the issue on the 2006 ballot to raise the minimum wage or efforts by labor to elect friendly candidates.

The AFL-CIO and the Democrats in the Assembly tried to push through a bill to raise the minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $6.15 an hour with an annual cost of living adjustment. That passed by Assembly but died in the Republican-controlled Senate.

In 2004 voters, by a margin of 68-32 percent, approved the plan for a $1 increase in the minimum wage and that must be passed against in the 2006 election before it takes effect.

Thompson said the efforts by the unions would "be stronger" in next year's election.

Scott MacKenzie, executive director of the 4,300-member State of Nevada Employees Association, said the national fight may not have much impact in Nevada.

His group belongs to the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which is a member of the AFL-CIO.

There is an agreement in the AFL-CIO that unions will not raid others for members. And there is a process whereby a union can file a protest and get a decision by the AFL-CIO if one side is believed to have violated the agreement, he said.