Union officials decry governor's contract response.
***image1***After nearly two years of negotiations, New Mexico's State, County and City employees were certain they'd emerged less bloodied than Gov. Bill Richardson. After all, they had won most of their demands for better working conditions through an independent arbitration agreed to by both parties.
They were wrong.
Earlier this month, Richardson's office sent a letter to the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) in Washington, DC, citing several problems with three points that had been decided in the union's favor. Those issues included a 2.5 percent incremental salary increase, extra personal days and more bereavement days.
Leaders of New Mexico's Council 18 Union-which represents 13,000 workers throughout the state and is part of AFSCME-tell SFR they were shocked by news of the letter. Union officials say they believed the governor was bound by the arbitration to which he'd agreed.
"I'm really surprised. I didn't think he could do this," Zach Garcia, vice president of the State Correctional Workers' Union, Local 3422, and a member of the Council 18 negotiating team, says.
"We had faith in the governor," Arcy Baca, president of Local 477, which includes all State workers in the Santa Fe area except corrections workers, adds.
The arbitration followed initial negotiations on a new contract in 2003 in which union and State officials reached an impasse on a number of key issues related to salaries, personal leave, staffing, scheduling and overtime.
In February of this year, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services decided the union's final proposal-which entailed pay raises, more bereavement days, better overtime compensation and other improvements-was reasonable and should be agreed to by the State. State negotiators had argued such a proposal would cost too much and violated existing rules mandated by the New Mexico State Personnel Board.
Although the New Mexico State Legislature failed to fund an overall pay increase, union officials say they wanted a 2.5 percent incremental increase written into their contracts to help pressure the Legislature to fund it in the future.
In May, Council 18 presented Richardson with a new contract and assumed he'd sign it. Anthony Marquez, executive director of Council 18, says the union now has requested a meeting with the governor but has not heard a response. He also noted that last week at its state convention in Albuquerque the AFL-CIO national labor union-affiliated with AFSCME-passed a resolution urging Richardson to sign Council 18's contract.
Tiffany Ricci, spokeswoman for AFSCME, which represented Council 18 during the arbitration, says AFSCME is still negotiating and she expects the results to be favorable.
In response to questions from SFR, The New Mexico Office of the Governor issued the following statement regarding negotiations with the union: "The Governor's Office acknowledges that there are some technical issues that remain. But we are hopeful and optimistic that an amicable agreement will be reached."
Such optimism doesn't sit well with local union leaders-especially corrections workers, who are particularly miffed at this latest setback because of their struggles for pay raises and rocky relations with Corrections Secretary Joe Williams.
Throughout the legislative session, union members picketed the Roundhouse for better wages, and in March, the Corrections Union unanimously handed Williams a vote of no confidence.
"For Richardson to say that he supports collective bargaining, go through the negotiations and then do this…We feel betrayed," says Lee Ortega, a corrections sergeant at the Santa Fe state penitentiary and president of Santa Fe Sub-local 3422.
Cayetano Trujillo, a corrections worker and secretary treasurer for the Santa Fe Sub-local, was part of Council 18's negotiating team and believes Richardson's hardball tactics will considerably strain an already tense relationship between public employees and the governor.
"He's dictating all of this on whole terms, so it's as if the whole process was useless," he says. "Now we have to go back to the same place we started. Now we have nothing. This was a real slap in the face."
