Las Vegas NowGibbons Vetoes Bills on Employee Bargaining Rights, Prevailing Wages

Gibbons Vetoes Bills on Employee Bargaining Rights, Prevailing Wages

A bill granting state workers some collective bargaining rights -- excluding talks on wages or other economic matters -- was vetoed Thursday by Gov. Jim Gibbons.

Besides the bargaining rights measure, AB395, the Republican governor also rejected SB376, which makes various changes in laws dealing with the state's prevailing wage requirements.

AB395 granted collective bargaining rights only for non-economic matters such as work conditions. But unions considered it a major step toward eventually getting state employees the broader bargaining rights enjoyed by teachers and local government employees.

Gibbons said he vetoed the bill because lawmakers enacted "the largest tax increase in state history" to cover state spending, and AB395 "would dramatically increase the cost of state government even further."

In rejecting SB376, the governor said it expanded the scope of projects to be considered by the state labor commissioner in setting prevailing wage rates and that "would effectively increase the costs of all county public works projects."

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