Bill gives workers negotiating powers

The Assembly Ways and Means Committee was asked Wednesday to open the door for state workers to bargain for non-monetary improvements in the workplace.

While county and city employees have long had collective bargaining rights, state workers have never been able to convince lawmakers to allow them access to bargaining.

Brian Klopp, an economist for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said he believes the language in AB395 would not only benefit public employees, but employers as well.

Dennis Mallory of the Nevada AFSCME said it would save money as well.

"It would encourage settlement of disputes at the lowest possible level," he said.

Mallory said too many disputes now "escalate all the way to the Supreme Court."

Former Nevada Department of Transportation pilot Jim Richardson said his case is a sample of situations the bill could prevent.

He said he was fired for reporting safety violations and, after extensive hearings, ordered reinstated by a hearing officer. He said the department refused the order and appealed to district court. Richardson said he was demoted 16 grades, an 80 percent pay cut, and assigned to a job loading aggregate by hand into testing machines in the NDOT lab.

That move prompted hearing officer Bill Kockenmeister to clarify his order in favor of Richardson.

"In rendering the decision, it was the intent of this hearing officer that a demotion of employee would be a demotion within the pilot class," he wrote. "This hearing officer certainly did not intend that employee would be demoted 16 pay grades."

Richardson said AB395 could protect employees such as himself.

"State employees need protection from vindictive, power hungry administrators," Richardson said. "With collective bargaining, this would not happen."

The bill has faced opposition. The Personnel Department said it would have to create a new division to handle the hearings, costing $1.6 million this biennium.

The Attorney General's Office said it would need $500,000 each biennium to work out the necessary agreements; NDOT asked for $200,000 a biennium and the system of higher education $1.2 million.

Klopp said those costs were drastically overstated. He said the bill was crafted carefully to avoid a financial impact to the state.

The bill would allow negotiation by state workers for a wide variety of things including personnel policies and conditions of employment " essentially anything except salary and benefits. It would allow not only mediation but arbitration for those issues.

The committee took no action on AB395.