Posts tagged Clark County Education Association
Racially charged comment by teachers union leader fans flames of teacher pay controversy
February 8, 2024 // In the labor board records, Clark County Education Association Executive Director John Vellardita said the union opposed the one-time adjustment/lookback because, "It would only benefit white suburban teachers." That does not take into account the many minority veteran teachers working throughout the Clark County School District. The document further says CCEA, "Never walked back the racially inappropriate basis for opposing the one-time adjustment/lookback." CCSD sent us a statement Wednesday afternoon which says, "Nevada and federal law forbid race-based discrimination by local government employers or unions. We presume the CCEA board will have to explain to teachers and the community if they stand by Mr. Vellardita's statement.
Teachers union suing Nevada over state’s ban on striking
October 13, 2023 // The Clark County Education Association, which represents more than 16,000 employees, is this week filed a lawsuit in the 8th Judicial District Court of the State of Nevada challenging Nevada Revised Statute (NRS) 288.700, which prohibits strikes by workers against the state or local government employers. The lawsuit comes after union members held a rally on Saturday in support of higher pay. The statute “impermissibly impinges upon the First Amendment rights of CCEA and its members, is overbroad, void for vagueness, is not narrowly tailored to achieve a compelling state interest, lacks specific enforcement standards, and encourages, authorizes, and fails to prevent arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement,” the lawsuit argues.
Teachers union appeals court injunction against sickouts
September 28, 2023 //
NEA Keeps Trying to Punish Las Vegas Union for Seceding, and Keeps Failing
April 4, 2023 // CCEA’s staffers belonged to the Employees’ Retirement Plan of the National Education Association, as do most NEA affiliate staffers. When CCEA disaffiliated, it had to also withdraw from NEA’s pension system. The national union then levied a charge for CCEA’s portion of the system’s unfunded liabilities. All of this is normal and proper operating procedure. Where NEA went rogue was in computing that charge. Without getting too far into the weeds, the plan’s actuaries must compute the discount rate — that is, as the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia called it “the rate at which the plan’s assets will grow ‘by the miracle of compound interest’.” The higher the discount rate computed, the less the unfunded liability, and vice versa. The NEA staff pension actuaries computed a discount rate of 5%, and sent CCEA a bill for $3,246,349. The local union thought this excessive and, as required by law, brought the dispute to arbitration.
Nevada: Follow the Money: Unions were biggest category donating to Legislature in 2022 cycle
February 21, 2023 // Nearly 96 percent of all big-money contributions from union and labor groups went to Democratic lawmakers, with Sen. Skip Daly (D-Sparks), who previously served as business manager of LIUNA Local 169, leading the field by a wide margin. Another lawmaker finished second — Assemblyman Max Carter (D-Las Vegas), who is affiliated with several unions, including International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 357 in Southern Nevada. In the second-place spot is the combined spending of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), which gave more than $147,000 to 34 lawmakers. By far the largest beneficiary of that spending was freshman Assemblyman Max Carter (D-Las Vegas), an electrician by trade and member of IBEW Local 357 who received the maximum $10,000 from three IBEW affiliate PACs for $30,000 total — nearly 10 percent of the $338,000 he raised from all big-dollar donors. In a distant second to Carter in IBEW fundraising was Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager (D-Las Vegas), who raised a combined $13,000. Others in competitive districts also saw combined IBEW totals north of the $10,000, including Sen. Julie Pazina, Sen. Marilyn Dondero Loop, Sen. Melanie Scheible, and Assemblywoman Elaine Marzola — all Democrats from Las Vegas, save Marzola, a Democrat from Henderson.
Craps
October 20, 2022 // Clark County Education Association, one of the largest teachers union locals in the nation, seceded from both the NEA and its state affiliate, the Nevada State Education Association. This was a major blow to NEA and NSEA, since the Las Vegas-based union comprised more than half of the state’s entire teachers union membership. But they were quick to respond, and a week after the disaffiliation vote, NEA and NSEA formed a competing local union, NEA Southern Nevada. They instituted a campaign to poach CCEA members. The state union’s executive director said, “we decided to advise the members of their rights to withdraw from a union if they so choose.” Their public relations efforts included a live stream of a cardboard box.