Why Las Vegas’ police union fight matters to Nevada labor

By Ana Ley

Friday, April 3, 2015 | 2 a.m.

As Nevada’s labor groups battle a flurry of bills aiming to weaken collective bargaining, political strife within the state’s most powerful police union threatens the group’s chances at the Legislature.

Chris Collins, the embattled head of the Las Vegas Police Protective Association, says he’s been unfairly targeted by the group’s executive board, which launched a messy effort to oust him this week. At a press conference Thursday morning, he vowed to fight for his job.

“I’ve never backed away from any fight,” he told news cameras. “I’m not going to back away from this fight.”

The winner in that power struggle is anyone’s guess. But regardless of the fight’s outcome, its fallout could have serious consequences for organized labor in Nevada:

Labor advocates say the association’s move was poorly timed. It comes as unions face a GOP-fueled onslaught of more than 30 bills seeking to reform collective bargaining, prevailing wage, health benefits, workers compensation and other laws.

A group of seven union leaders — including Melissa Johanning, president of the association’s civilian employee union — addressed a letter to the board members urging them to push their decision back until after the legislative session ends in two months.

“There is never a good time for in-house issues to occur, but the consensus here in Carson City is that this is not the time to be removing what could be one of the critical people in our battles to maintain and protect our rights, benefits, and ultimately our members,” the letter reads.

Union bosses fear the board’s move has fractured the collective image of Nevada’s organized labor force, hurting its chances to kill anti-union bills.

The biggest foe for unions is Assembly Bill 182, a wide-ranging measure that would prevent local government employers from giving workers paid time off for union tasks. It would also keep supervisors and administrators from unionizing and expand local governments’ ability to implement layoffs.

Collins’ dismissal hinges largely on his perceived unwillingness to lobby against AB182, and that accusation undermines the group’s collective efforts to sway Republican lawmakers.

The board says Collins intentionally failed to speak out against AB182 during its introduction on March 25, but the union boss denied the accusation and said he simply didn’t get an opportunity to take the podium at the packed hearing. He has a list of alibis to vouch for his interest to fight the bill, including Ron Dreher of the Peace Officers Research Association of Nevada.

But the squabble has already done its damage.

“The well has already been poisoned,” Dreher said. “We’ll just have to put Band-Aids on this and move on.”​