Tuesday, April 23, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
Feeling cheated out of a double-digit pay raise, state employees are urging their union to endorse new candidates to the Legislature.
"There is a real reluctance to support most incumbent legislators," said Bob Gagnier, executive director of the 4,000-member State of Nevada Employees Association.
Gagnier said state employees sought a 12 percent pay hike during the 1995 legislative session and were granted an 8 percent increase over two years. About 14,000 people are employed by the state.
The Legislature also rejected a collective bargaining bill that would have allowed state workers to negotiate pay raises.
Gagnier said delegates attending the association's recent annual meeting also called for changes in the tests used by the Personnel Department to hire and promote state workers.
"Delegates indicated many of the examinations have become just a sham," Gagnier said. "The agencies hire who they want to hire. A lot of the examinations are being given on general knowledge as opposed to knowledge of the particular job."
Barbara Willis, director of the state Personnel Department, said testing is based on job requirements.
"Some of the tests at the entry level may not appear on the surface to be job-related, but they definitely are," Willis said. "That's because we sometimes measure what is required at the entry level, not what is required at the full-performance level."
Willis said grievance procedures are in place allowing employees to air complaints.
Delegates attending the association's meeting elected officers, including Tom Brien of Gardnerville, who won re-election as president, and Gail Milne of Reno, who was re-elected vice president. New directors are Jacque Murphy of Las Vegas and Steve Suwe of Carson City.
The union's board of directors will meet May 4 to develop top priorities to present to the 1997 Legislature. Among those will be pay raises and collective bargaining, Gagnier said.
The board also will discuss endorsements, which are normally released in late July. However, the association has already endorsed state Sen. Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas, for the 1st Congressional District and former Republican Assemblyman Jim Gibbons of Reno for the 2nd Congressional District.
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