Parent union takes control of local musicians union and its election

The parent union of the Las Vegas Musicians Union has stepped in to take temporary control of Local 369, canceling an election of officers set for next month and setting a new vote in December.

The American Federation of Musicians took "temporary trusteeship" of the 611-member local, which has been bitterly divided in recent weeks.

The local's principal officers and executive board members have been relieved of their posts, and short-term control is in the hands of the parent union's presidential assistant, Ken Shirk, until newly elected officers are installed.

"The objective is to make sure the election is run according to the rules the membership sets for itself," Shirk said Friday.

"It's not a frequently done situation," Shirk added, "but when it needs to be done whatever the reason is, we'll see that it gets taken care of."

The local's longtime president, Frank Leone, recently stepped down after being found guilty by the parent union of mishandling a Circus-Circus contract negotiation. Leone was running to regain his office against local conductor Jack Gaughan.

Leone and his supporters contend the union's own bylaws are unconstitutional, and that only criminal acts should force a president to step down. Instead, Leone was found guilty of not letting the Circus-Circus musicians vote to ratify the new contract.

But the national board held to a strict definiton of the bylaw, which states a candidate must "not have been convicted of violating the bylaws and policies of any Local or those of the AFM" in the past two years.

In a news letter released to members today, the parent union said the local's elections committee "improperly certified" Leone and committed "a serious procedural error."

Instead of holding the election "knowing in advance that the election was defective and subject to a challenge with a rerun election as the certain remedy," the executive board instead decided "a trusteeship with an immediate reboot of the election process was in the best interests and welfare of the membership, rather than subjecting it to an entire rerun election process after the fact," according to the newsletter.

Union members are invited to a Thursday meeting to nominate new officers, and the new vote is set for Dec. 19. The trusteeship would likely end at the end of the calendar year, Shirk said.

Keith Nelson, who had stepped up from secretary-treasurer to serve as the interim president, has been appointed to handle the local's day-to-day administrative affairs.

Read more from Mike Weatherford at reviewjournal.com. Contact him at mweatherford@reviewjournal.com. Follow him @Mikeweatherford