LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The Clark County Education Association filed an Anti-SLAPP Special Motion against the Clark County School District on Monday morning to dismiss what they call a "frivolous and meritless lawsuit."
The legal battle between CCSD and the CCEA has been building since the district filed a lawsuit on July 31, asking for an injunction against the union after they discussed a potential "work action" if an agreement was not reached.
That lawsuit came after the union leadership confirmed two prior that members would be taking a vote on the "work action" that would take place on August 26, but would not be "district-wide" and would "only affect certain schools."
READ MORE: A recap of the ongoing contract negotiations between the teachers' union and CCSD
According to Nevada law, Anti-SLAPP lawsuits — or, "Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation" — can be used by defendants to quickly dismiss lawsuits filed against them for "exercising speech, press, assembly, petition, or association rights."
The lawsuit reads, "No one could have believed a teachers’ strike was imminent on July 31, when this lawsuit was filed, or that one was imminent when the District demanded its TRO hearing on shortened time, or that one is imminent now.
The union has also released an accompanying statement:
CCEA is committed to ensuring that CCSD’s efforts to stifle the first amendment rights of 18,000 educators will not succeed.
This lawsuit was filed by the District to chill the speech and punish protected activity by members and personnel of CCEA. What the District wants is a compliant teachers union, fractured and anxious, against which it can impose its will more easily, and this lawsuit, along with its spurious EMRB Petition, was part of a strategy to achieve that. The District, however, has grievously miscalculated.
Educators are more united than ever in solidarity and committed to our negotiation team’s demands at the bargaining table, and CCEA is more than prepared to win the contract that educators deserve.
