Unions
NPRI’s Second Annual ‘Overlooked Awards’
Later this month Project Censored, a left-wing media group, will reveal the ten stories it believes were "censored" by the nation’s mainstream press in 1998. The Nevada Policy Research Institute offered its first list of the stories the Silver State’s media ignore last year. Herewith, NPRI’s Second Annual Overlooked Awards. The following are not censored stories but rather topics which got little (or flawed) press coverage in 1998, due to reporters’ laziness and/or lack of understanding—not to mention the well-funded snow jobs often orchestrated by special interests in Nevada.
Big Labor, Little Membership
Several weeks ago the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released its report on union membership in 1998. The news wasn't good for Big Labor. Last year unions represented an even smaller share of the nation's workforce than they did in 1997. This news has implications for Nevada, a state which has been the target of an aggressive union organizing campaign for several years. But while labor bosses can crow about high-profile victories, particularly in Southern Nevada, their organizing efforts are unlikely to halt workers’ growing disdain for unions. The consequences of Big Labor’s excesses, as well as long-term economic trends, do not bode well for unions in Nevada or the nation.
Unions: Another Attempt to Monopolize the Public Sector
In what is becoming a rite of spring, a compulsory public sector bargaining bill is once again on the table of the Assembly Government Affairs Committee this session. Versions of Assembly Bill 310 have been proposed for the past six years, with varying degrees of success. A.B. 310 would authorize collective bargaining for "persons employed by the State of Nevada, its boards, commissions, agencies and departments, the public employees’ retirement system, the University and Community College System of Nevada and any other employer that receives money from the state." (A.B. 310) Part-time employees and several positions in the state printing and micrographics division of the department of administration are excluded. The bill also creates a labor relations board specifically designed to deal with state employment disputes.
A Needed Addition to Campaign Finance Reform
Campaign finance reform has been needed in Nevada for a long time. Instead of waiting to see if legislators would kill reform measures again this session, voters mandated, for the second time, that current campaign finance laws be changed by passing ballot question Number 10. This amends the Nevada Constitution and requires legislators to change current statutes. The reporting threshold will be lowered. (How low remains to be seen). Party caucuses and political action committees (PACs) will be limited in the amounts they can contribute and also will have to disclose who donated money and how much. Reporting dates will be moved closer to election day and contributions made in the name of another person will be made illegal. Various bills have been introduced, named and renamed, in hopes of putting an end to this longstanding debate. The proposed reform is fairly comprehensive, covering the areas where abuses run rampant. However, some loopholes will still exist, especially in labor union political activity. Some unions spend over 90 percent of total dues on political activities and union members should have the right to know which candidates they are supporting.
Nevada’s Privileged Class
As our legislature looks forward to the changing of a decade it’s time reevaluate where we are and where we want to be in the year 2000. Despite considerable attention paid to balancing budgets in the midst of more and more responsibility assumed at the state and local levels, we have paid little attention to the disparities in compensation and benefits between the public and private employee. The following statistics will examine the decade between 1980 and 1990. 1990 to 1996 will be examined in a future Issue Brief.
Should Nevada Adopt a Mini-Beck Decision?
Look out: big labor is back!
But then they never really went away! This year as in years passed, labor (the AFL-CIO affiliates in Nevada, teacher’s unions affiliated with the National Education and state and local public employee unions) has flexed their political muscles with millions of dollars in political contributions. Money has flowed from the pockets of union members through union headquarters directly into the pockets of Democratic candidates at Federal, State and local levels. Did the union members have a say in who got these campaign donations? No!
