DOL Suit: Las Vegas Union Had Member Fired, Used Literacy Test To Block From Running For Office

A Las Vegas union is being sued by the U.S Department of Labor, according to Courthouse News Service.
According to the suit, Local 872’s election judges within the Laborers’ International Union of North America required only one candidate (among several) to stand and read a provision of the union’s constitution to determine whether he was literate, according to the Department of Labor lawsuit, then also had the member fired from his job.

The Laborers International Union of North America Local 872 used an ad hoc literacy test to exclude a member from running for vice president, Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez claims in Federal Court.

Two days after denying union member Mark Trujillo the right to run for office, the union took away his post as shop steward, which he had held for 5 years, and the next day his employer fired him, the labor secretary says in the Oct. 13 lawsuit.

In fact, the incumbent slate swept the election because all the opposition candidates were disqualified, the labor secretary says.

The 7-page lawsuit does not mention the word “immigration,” but clearly indicates that that was an issue.

“Trujillo did not have his green card or certificate of naturalization with him at the meeting, and presented his California driver’s license as proof of residence, which the election judge initially accepted,” the labor secretary says in the complaint.

Read the rest here.