afscme new mexico works - newsletter oct 2014

8/10/2019 AFSCME New Mexico WORKS - Newsletter Oct 2014

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NEW MEXICO WORKS AFSCME Council 18

THE BATTLE FOR

NEW MEXICOS FUTUREWERE NOT BACKING DOWN THIS ELECTIONStanding for workers rights, job safety, fairwages, benefits, dignity, and respect,Labors opposition call this political games

So AFSCME better play for keeps!

The 2014 election is just around theorner and we have many crucial seats attake. Not only do we have AFSCME-ndorsed Gary King up against Susana

Martinez but we also have the entiretate house, five statewide seats,ncluding Attorney General andecretary of State, United Statesenate, Congressional Districts 1, 2,nd 3, and many county offices up forrabs.

This election is not just about theandidates. This election is aboutollective bargaining and having fair

ontracts that include decent wages,

benefits, and working conditions. Thiselection is about our families healthcareplans and making sure we get thecoverage we need at an affordable price. This election is about retirementsecurity ensuring every one of us canretire with dignity and not worry aboutpaying the bills. Take a look at the City of Albuquerque.Mayor Berry has imposed a contract onLocals 624, 1888, and 2962. JohnMartinez, who many of you know, hasdragged out negotiations for 4 years while receiving more than $400,000 in

contracts from the city. By imposing

this agreement, city employees havunion time to handle employee / employer disputes, city employees lost promotion rights, and the city now able to discipline at any time fany reason, even if it is months or yafter an incident. As tough as this sounds, we are notbacking down this election. We arecalling members every night Mond Thursday from 4pm 8pm and weknocking on doors every Saturday Sunday. A $12/hr stipend is availabmembers to go volunteer at one of

LABOR 2014 offices. **SEE PAG

New Mexico taxpayers pick up the bill when public employers opt to hire for-profit consultants to negotiate laboragreements instead of utilizing theirhuman resource departments traditionallytasked with the job, and cost is no object.

HR departments have an incentive to

reach collective bargaining agreements with unions; getting employees back to work happy, with the knowledge of theirterms, conditions, and benefits ofemployment.

For-profit consultants, now in vogue from Taos to Hidalgo County, have nomotivation to conclude negotiations. While politicians and top levelmanagement argue taxpayers are gettinga good value for their money, the facts

dont back it up.

The longer negotiations drag out, thehigher consultant billable hours stack That is a disincentive to reach agreem

Management Associates Inc., by far tmost popular management consultantfirm operating in New Mexico, hascontracts for labor management work

with state, counties, municipalgovernments and school boards acrosthe State.

AFSCME members have been attendi Albuquerque City Council meetings tdemonstrate their frustration withManagement Associates and the Administrations handling of thecollective bargaining process.

The City Council passed a no-confide vote with Management Associates Inc6-3 at their September 3 meeting.

ATTACKING LABOR IS BIG BUSINESS IN NEW MEXICOFSCME Members are turning the tide ,orking to end the waste of tax dollars

nd the infringement on worke rsghts! Recently, AFSCME ABQ localson a City Council vote of NOONFIDENCE on the high-paid, for-rofit mangement consultants,

Management Associa tes Inc .

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Representing the Grant County Sheriff'sDepartment, Detention Center, blue and white collar county employees, and mostrecently, the Regional Dispatch Authority,Local 2516 members have waged and wonbattles for raises, back pay, andrepresentation rights this year.County employees have secured theirnegotiated raises and cost of livingincreases thanks to persistent work bymembership and a supportive countycommission. Earlier in 2013, countycommissioners approved a negotiatedagreement that included a 2014 cost ofliving adjustment of 1% for most countyemployees. The contract also includedearlier raises of 2.5% for county workers.

Sheriffs office employees received anadditional .5% cost of living increase overthe same period. Even though extra money

didnt seem to be there for blue and whcollar employees during negotiations,Local 2516 leadership never gave up acontinued to work with the countycommissioners to secure an extra .5% of living raise to make overall raisescomparable with those negotiated forsheriffs office employees.County commissioners, at their August2014 meeting, funded an additional .5%cost of living wage increase for countyemployees moving forward.Even as Local 2516 was filing grievanand prohibited practice complaints, themaintained a healthy dialogue with allion the county commission. The result;management felt the pressure politicall AND legally, and members saw a speeresolution to the disputes.

PAY BACK!Nearly six years later, AFSCMEontinues to fight for straightnswers from the state whoeemingly is doing everything theyan to make the back pay process asifficult as possible. Back-payhecks are being delivered to hard

working NM State Employees whotuck it out and kept public servicesunning through these difficultears. Pictured below is Brenda

Watson, recording secretary forocal 477 from Dept. of Cultural

Affairs.

ister Watson was one of manyctivists who dogged former Stateersonnel Director Gene Moser allver the state, from legislativeinance meetings to state personneloard meetings, and kept the state'seet to the fire so that THIS dayould come!

Checks will continue toe distributed through

October via mail andand delivery to currentnd former NM State

AFSCME Unionmployees.

lease work with yourgency HR if you haveuestions on delivery orccuracy of your checks.

AFSCME continues itsigilance and legal actiono make sure every current andormer state employee receives thexact amount in back wages that

hey are due.

AFSCME Members, Grant County community, and labor activists from across thecountry gathered at the 1950s Empire Mine Strike Site in March 14 to commemoratethe 60th Anniversary of the seminal labor film Salt of the Earth . On hand were Rachel

Valencia, a striking women who was run down by a scab vehicle; Juana Moreno Sierra,who stood up to the Sheriff in 1950, and Guillermo Willie Andazola, who threw rocksat the scabs during the strike (with mothers permission)

AFSCME STRONGER in 2014!Organizing Victories include the Santa FeCounty Detention Facility (Officers, Medical,and Support Staff), Corre Camino, GrantCounty Regional Transit Services, the Town of Taos blue and white collar employees, andemergency medical services workers, includingGila Regional EMS andSuperior Ambulance. AFSCME New Mexicomembers are first on the scene when you need them andserving the public trust.

Grant County: AFSCME Local 2516:On the Move!


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NM State House by District (D):

Vo te Tu esd ay No v 4 / / Po l l s o p en 7 amEarly VOTE Begins October 18

State Attorney General - Hector BalderasSecretary of State - Maggie Toulouse OliverTreasurer - Tim Eichenberg

Auditor - Tim Keller Land Commissioner - Ray Powell

V O T E R G U I D E take into voting booth

Federal U.S. Senate - Tom Udall

Congressional District 1 (ABQ area)Michelle Lujan GrishamCongressional District 2 (Southern)Roxanne Rocky LaraCongressional District 3 (Northern)Ben Ray Lujan

County Bernalillo Co. Commission D1 - Debbie OMalle

Bernalillo Co. Sheriff - Manny Gonzales Dona Ana Co. Commission D1 - Billy Garrett Dona Ana Co. Commission D3 - Beth Bardwell Dona Ana Co. Sheriff - Kiki Vigil District Judge - Joshua Sanchez

! Gary King for Governor & Debra Haaland for Lt. Governor

! D4: Harrison Todacheene ! D15: Emily Kane ! D25: Christine Trujillo ! D38: Terry Fortenberry

! D5: Doreen Wonda Johnson ! D16: Moe Maestas ! D26: Georgene Louis ! D39: Rudy Martinez

! D7: Teresa Smith de Cherif ! D20: Josh Anderson ! D30: Bob Coffey ! D40: Nick Salazar! D8: Frank Otero ! D22: John Wallace ! D33: Bill McCamley ! D43: Stephanie Garcia Richard

! D10: Andres Romero ! D23: Catherine Begaye ! D36: Phillip Archuleta ! D50: Matthew McQueen

! D14: Miguel Garcia ! D24 Liz Thomson ! D37: Joanne Ferrary ! D53: MariaElena Johnson

Right-to-Work for LessFewer Jobs & Lower WagesOutsourced JobsAt-Will Employment

Bonuses for CroniesAttacks on Retirement

Public Employee Bargaining ActRetirement Security Health Benets

Just Cause Protections

Job Security Workplace Justice!

Let your voice be heard! VOTE Tuesday, NOVEMBER 4

for your endorsed candidates.

Otherwise, imagine what New Mexico could lookHouse of Representatives is taken over by anti-worker le


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lthough the city council appropriated 6%wage increases over the past four years,

any employees have not seen thoseises. For raises to go into effect, a

ontract agreement must be reached.ach year, negotiations betweenFSCME locals and the city have endedimpasse.

ypically, when impasse is reachedecause the parties are unable to reachgreement, an arbitrator is brought in tottle the contract. Once rare, impassebitration is more common where

mployers hire Management Associates.

four years, City of Albuquerque hasfused to take the contract impasse tobitration. Instead, the city has chosen toart negotiations from scratch each year.hat has left employees without raises,

evious years labor issues unresolved,nd the city racking up more than420,000 in consultation fees.

he citys idea of bargaining from a blankeet of paper disregards decades worthgood language benefitting the

mployer, citizens, and the employees.

Over this period, AFSCME has won overa dozen arbitrations resulting from thecitys misapplication of labor law andcollective bargaining rights.

Factoring in cost of litigation andarbitrations resulting from unprecedented years of impasse and attacks on labor, ithas been more costly for the city to fight with their working class employees than it would have been to reach a compromise,said Rocky Gutierrez, AFSCME staffrepresentative and lead negotiator for the AFSCME city unions. By targeting somany of the workers fundamental rightsthat weve fought to maintain for 44 years,Management Associates is backingemployees up against a wall, and thensaying, meet us halfway.

AFSCME is asking the Albuquerque City

Council to end the lucrative stalemate andcompel the Berry administration to moveinto the arbitration phase by changing thecitys labor-management relationsordinance to mandate binding arbitration.

Across the state, the narrative reads thesame; Management Associates sits down

with unions only to proposes contractlanguage that unions find unacceptabland irreparably harms workers.Management Associates rarely backs of their original contract proposals ana result, negotiations fail to progress.

Using for-profit consultants is fruitlesdesign for every party other than theconsultants and politicians opposed tolabor. The consultants enrich themselvand politicians advance an anti-workeideology. Its all on the taxpayers dim The collateral damage is working-clasNew Mexicans suffer by seeing workrights diminish as paychecks shrink.

THE BIG BUSINESS OF ATTACKING LABOR BIG BUSINESS

AFSCME 18 - Web ACTI Visit the AFSCME18.org WEBPAGE to read

about recent news and upcoming events.

EMAIL: to makecertain you are on the email lists to receive

important action items.

Join the conversation on social mediaFACEBOOK.com/AFSCME18TWITTER: @AFSCME18

cont. from pg 1

NEW MEXICO WORKSAFSCME Council 18 New Mexico

1202 Pennsylvania St NEAlbuquerque NM 87110

505-266-2505505-266-2404 fax
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]

afscme new mexico works - newsletter oct 2014

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