“Everything you’ve done for labor, [we] greatly appreciate it.” - Vince Saavedra, SNBTU Executive Secretary-Treasurer

Attorney General Aaron Ford appeared on Southern Nevada Building Trades Podcast, GangboX, to discuss issues important to labor unions and lowering costs. Ford talked about his record leading the fight to expand collective bargaining and fighting to protect prevailing wage and project labor agreements in the state senate. As Attorney General, Ford has passed legislation to crack down on price-fixing of essential goods like rent and groceries and prosecuted those who have scammed our most vulnerable, including Nevada seniors. 

In contrast, Joe Lombardo has vetoed numerous pro-worker bills that would have uplifted working families. He vetoed bills that would have removed the exemption to prevailing wage laws for public rail/monorail projects, boosted state police take-home pay by cutting their share of retirement contributions in half, and allowed peace officers to unionize. Lombardo also voted against the Nevada State Police union’s collective bargaining agreement that included critical pay increases for officers — Ford voted for it.

See more below: 

WATCH HERE:

DANIEL LINCOLN: You brought up 2015. That was the session where they tried to get rid of prevailing wage for schools, right? 

AG FORD: Yes, absolutely. 

LINCOLN: What happened? And how did we get to 90% because I remember it was gone for most of the session, right? And then something happened, and then we ended up getting at least 90% of the prevailing wage. What happened there? 

FORD: I happened. Me and my caucus happened. I was minority leader in the Senate at that time. Ben Kieckhefer was the assistant Majority Leader at the time, and was one of the main driving forces behind getting rid of prevailing wage in schools. And I was expressing to him how problematic that would be, and how hurtful it would be, and how wrong it would be. And so I sat in his office as frequently as I could, and I explained to him that particular position, and we were able to work it out to the point where we got to 90%. But here's what I remember. I remember you guys saying, you as in unions saying, Never again. That was a mantra that I remember you guys saying early on after 2015 never again. And what I said in 2015 was, give me the gavel.

LINCOLN: I remember. You said that in my union hall while I was a rank and file member sitting at a union meeting. 

FORD: I said, get me the gavel. And then […] in 2017 I went back to the legislature, and we passed all of those bills to restore those things. 

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