PHOTO/DENNIS MYERS
In February the Nevada Legislature will be faced with the ticklish task of repealing an anti-communist law.
Unions back Walmart workers Workers from local labor unions marched at Truckee Meadows Walmart stores on Thanksgiving, saying they were speaking for Walmart workers who risked firing if they spoke out themselves. Similar protests took place at Walmart stores across the nation. The mammoth chain is noted for low wages and benefits. “I’m out here to support the workers, not just in Reno but nationally,” said Judy Jensen, a member of the Communications Workers of America local. Jensen also said, “There’s a lot of intimidation going on. I think Walmart can do a much better job of paying their people. ... You know, they say they give them health care, but there have been at least three studies that show that their workers—because of the wages—are having to live on public assistance.” Ron Schoenherr, a member of the Operating Engineers union, also pointed at poor health benefits as a factor in the Raley’s grocery strike. He said Walmart’s poor wages and benefits force other stores to have similar policies in order to compete—a “race to the bottom,” he called it. “Raley’s wants to reduce their medical benefits because their overhead is too high,” He said. “They can no longer compete with Walmart.” Jensen urged shoppers to do research on Walmart and then go to other stores. “If you take their newspaper ads, a lot of other stores will match their prices.” Walmart claimed its best “Black Friday” sales ever, though the statistics it released—nearly 10 million transactions—included sales on Thursday evening. In a prepared statement, Walmart CEO Bill Simon said, “Only 26 protests occurred at stores last night, and many of them did not include any Walmart associates.” But unions said there were more than a thousand protesters who participated in events in 42 states. “We estimate that less than 50 associates participated in the protest nationwide,” Simon said. “In fact, this year, roughly the same number of associates missed their scheduled shift as last year.” His comments conflicted with a statement from his own corporation that the number of workers who did not appear for a scheduled shift declined by over 60 percent compared to last year. In Paramount, Calif., three Walmart workers were arrested at a protest. In Arizona, a Catholic charity—Tucson’s Casa Maria Free Kitchen—rejected a $2,000 donation from Walmart, calling it “blood money.” Charity overseer Brian Flagg told the Arizona Daily Star, “We feel that even though Walmart has low prices, they pay lousy wages, they’re anti-union, and they have a detrimental effect on the survival of small businesses.” One Reno labor activist noted that the protest at the Glendale Avenue Walmart took place across the street from the Grand Sierra Resort, which is unionized.
Weighty info Thanksgiving Day editions, packed with holiday shopping ads, are reportedly the largest of the year for daily newspapers. The Nov. 22 edition of the Reno Gazette-Journal weighed 3.91 pounds. If it were ground beef, it would have cost $9.73, according to Raley’s grocery prices on Monday of this week. If it were crab, it would have cost $19.51. Although it was a weekday and although that particular edition was revenue-rich, the Gazette-Journal raised the price for it to $3. The normal weekday price is $1.
—Dennis Myers 6
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RN&R
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NOVEMBER 29, 2012
Repeal Nevada reconsiders a remnant of the past
State legislators will consider whether to repeal a Nevada law that currently allows employers to engage in job disby Dennis Myers crimination against communists. The Legislative Commission—a body that handles some legislative business when the full Nevada Legislature is out of session—is having a bill drawn up to repeal Nevada Revised Statute 613.360. The lawmakers go into session on Feb. 4. The 47-year-old law doesn’t necessarily allow discrimination against all communists. It allows it in the cases of communists who are members of a Communist Party and may allow it in other instances. It reads:
It may come as a surprise that it is legal for employers to inquire into the political beliefs of job applicants. “Actions permitted against member of Communist Party or related organization. As used in NRS 613.310 to 613.435, inclusive, the phrase ‘unlawful employment practice’ does not include any action or measure taken by an employer, labor organization, joint labor-management committee or employment agency with respect to an individual who is a member of the Communist Party of
the United States or of any other organization required to register as a Communist-action or Communistfront organization by final order of the Subversive Activities Control Board pursuant to the Subversive Activities Control Act of 1950.” The Subversive Activities Control Board was created by the U.S. Internal Security Act of 1950, which was sponsored by U.S. Sen. Patrick McCarran of Nevada, a right wing Democrat. Title II of the same law provided for concentration camps in the United States, a number of which were constructed but never used. (Democratic Sen. Paul Douglas of Illinois, who coauthored Title II, was later placed on an FBI list of people to be rounded up for the camps.) The Nevada law was enacted by the 1965 Nevada Legislature as section 15 of that year’s Assembly Bill 404, sponsored by Assemblymembers Mel Close and Vernon Bunker, both Democrats. Bunker, who was the Democratic floor leader in 1965 and later moved down to the state Senate, is deceased. Close, who later became Assembly Speaker and also eventually moved to the Senate, is a Las Vegas lawyer. He has no memory of the legislation. “I read about it [the plan to repeal] in the paper, and I thought, ‘How did such a dumb law get passed in the first place?’” Close said with a laugh this week. “I wish I could tell you why that was in the bill, but I can’t.”
An examination of legislative records does not provide any indication of why the section was in the bill. Most of the committee discussion dealt with how the state law meshed with federal law, and some concern was expressed over disallowing sexual discrimination. Some legislators thought it might mean businesses would be subject to equal pay for women or might have to hire women as ditch-diggers. The committee minutes say Gov. Grant Sawyer signed off on the language. The bill passed the Assembly 34-2 on March 18 and the Senate 21-8 on April 2. The language of the law is a reflection of the times when it was enacted. The word “communist” was usually capitalized, even when not used as a proper noun, a practice that dwindled as red-baiting receded into the past. Would legislators today run a political risk by voting to repeal the law? “I honestly don’t think so,” said political scientist Fred Lokken. “I don’t think there’s any risk of it.” He said that with the benefit of hindsight, it is clear that the threat both inside and outside the United States was always from the right. “The Soviet Union was fascist, China the same, but the hysteria was over their being leftist,” he said. “That is what the great threat is in the United States, is takeover from the right, not from the left.” In the late 1800s and early 1900s, business leaders in the U.S. were able to use both money and force—sometimes U.S. military force—to put economic theories like Marxism, communism, socialism and social democracy permanently outside allowable discourse in the nation, unlike Europe where socialism and social democracy are still vigorous and often successful movements and even communism is a credible faction. Lokken acknowledged that there’s always the possibility that a fringe figure might accuse a Nevada legislator in the next election of being pro-communist, but he said there are ways for the lawmakers to protect themselves. “It would be wise to combine it in a bill with a number of other ridiculous laws,” he said. It may come as a surprise that it is legal for employers to inquire into the political beliefs of job applicants. It is, with some exceptions and some ambiguous risk points for employers. There are federal court cases that protect public employees from scrutiny of their political views. In some states there are laws that protect private sector job applicants
