A new bylaw expected to be adopted by the Nevada teacher’s union would allow it to put local affiliates under a “trusteeship,” a move that leaders of the local see as a direct attack on them in response to an ongoing legal battle.

Clark County Education Association teachers protest outside the Edward A. Greer Education Center before a Clark County School District Board of Trustees meeting in Las Vegas, Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2017. (Joel Angel Juarez/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @jajuarezphoto

A new bylaw expected to be adopted by the Nevada teacher’s union would allow it to put local affiliates under a “trusteeship,” a move that leaders of the Clark County local see as a direct attack on them in response to an ongoing legal battle.

It’s the latest flashpoint between the Clark County Education Association and the Nevada State Education Association, two organizations that are supposed to work in harmony on behalf of educators, but instead are suing one another.

Long-simmering arguments between the two spilled out after the close of the 2017 legislative session, and in September both organization sued claiming breach of contract. The state arm said the local arm was withholding dues illegally. The local organization said the state organization failed to disclose how dues were being spent.

Both lawsuits are awaiting court dates after initial rulings.

In the meantime, the state association is working on updates to its bylaws, which were reviewed at a March 9 Board of Directors meeting.

The state union call the updates “common sense.”

One of the proposals would allow the state union to take over operations of a local affiliate in the event of corruption or financial malpractice.

The union denied the move is aimed at the Clark County affiliate.

“They are not a part of a ‘hostile takeover’ of any NSEA local affiliate,” a fact sheet sent to the Review-Journal said of the proposed changes. “They are not an attempt to ‘circumvent’ the lawsuit going to court against CCEA.”

But that’s just how local union leaders see them. A website created by the leaders and advertised to local union members through Twitter, calls the trusteeship plan a “dictatorship.”

“A trusteeship means that CCEA will no longer have local control by members,” the site says. “It will be controlled by the state organization. There will be no democracy. It will be one-person rule and that person will be NSEA appointed.”

The site advises members to take a stand against the policies.

The policies will be voted on by the NSEA Delegate Assembly at the end of April.

But because CCEA stopped sending dues to the state organization, its members are no longer in good standing and won’t be represented in the vote, according to state officials.

Contact Meghin Delaney at 702-383-0281 or mdelaney@reviewjournal.com. Follow @MeghinDelaney on Twitter.