NEW MEXICO WORKS

OFFICIAL NOTICE

AFSCME Council 18

2015 PEOPLE CONVENTION

SEE PAGE 3

MAY

16

Spring 2015

AFTER THE LEGISLATURE GOES HOME, NEW MEXICO LABOR

AND ALLIES VOW TO KEEP FIGHTING FOR WORKING FAMILIES
(SANTA FE--Mar. 21, 2015) Following
the conclusion of a dramatic 2015
Legislative Session, labor and working
family advocates gathered in front of the
Roundhouse to thank pro-worker
legislators and renewed their
commitment to fight for policies that
benefit all New Mexico working
families, not just the already wealthy.
Early on, anti-worker legislation, or socalled "right to work" emerged as one of
the most divisive issues of the session,
but working people, labor unions,
community members, Democratic
lawmakers, and other allies successfully
mobilized to defeat the legislation in
committee. "Right to work" opponents
were able to point to academic research
showing there is zero evidence the law

would spur job growth but ample

statistics demonstrating it will diminish
wages for all workers, lead to higher
workplace fatalities, and diminish job
training and apprenticeship
opportunities.

Workers and community members

mobilized across the state to protect
New Mexico's middle class. Hundreds
turned out to the Roundhouse during
the course of the session to make their
issues heard at Moral Monday events
and committee hearings.

cont. pg 3

2015 NEW MEXICO LEGISLATIVE SESSION SUMMARY

WORKER RIGHTS
AFSCME played a key role in
defeating so-called "right to work"
legislation this year. Defeating this
legislation was by far our top
priority, as passing right to work
would have eroded the rights and
voices of all workers for years to
come.
There were other bad bills relating
to unions, like the paycheck
deception bill introduced by a
Senate Republican, but AFSCME
played a big role in killing those as
well.

AFSCME Members worked alongside the entire

NM Labor Movement and a large coalition of
community allies this session to hold the line for
ALL working New Mexicans against partisan
attacks and legislation designed to benefit the
politically connected and the very wealthy.

AFSCME also helped lead the

charge to raise the minimum wage,
but House Republicans killed
multiple bills to help hard-working
families and New Mexico remains
stuck at $7.50/hour poverty wages
for many full-time workers.

OUTSOURCING AND
PRIVATIZING JOBS

Along with attacks on worker rights,

and closely related to it, is the
national (mostly) Republican
movement to privatize state and
local government. Opposing
outsourcing and privatization is one
of our top priorities every year at
every level of government. Making
this year's statewide privatization
attempts even worse was the fact
that the main privatization bill also
would have resulted in local and
state government taking on billions
of dollars in debt beyond current
debt limits. So not only would many
public employees be privatized
(meaning lower wages, little to no
health care, and a cancellation of
PERA and ERB retirement plans),
but those remaining would have less
and less funding and stang as a
result of greater debt payments.
AFSCME led a large coalition of
children's advocates, environmental
groups, and other unions who
cont. pg 3

We Must Stand With Law Enforcement Officers

Lee A. Saunders, President AFSCME International
On Tuesday, April 14, during
National Library Week,
communities across the country will
observe National Library Workers
Day. We encourage you to observe
this day, a time to honor the
contributions of AFSCME
members, including librarians,
library assistants, support staff and
others, who make libraries happen.
This is the 12th year that AFSCME,
the largest union of library
employees, with more than 25,000
members, will observe the day.
National Library Workers Day 2015
is a chance to educate members and
the community about the challenges
facing us and our plan to address
them AFSCME Strong.

STEWARD / MEMBER
TRAININGS COMING UP!
AFSCME Council 18 is committed
to training the next generation of
leaders to continue the fight for
workplace justice, dignity, and
respect.
Call 505-266-2505 or go online to
AFSCME18.org under the
Education & Training tab for
complete schedule and to sign up for
the FREE ELITE Academy series
of union trainings.
ELITE Level I, Part I
Basic Steward Training
April 17 and 18 2015
AFSCME Hall - ABQ
ELITE Level II, Part I
Communications, Political
Action, Community Building
May 2, 2015
AFSCME Hall - Las Cruces
ELITE Level I, Part I
Basic Steward Training
June 5 and 6 2015
AFSCME Hall -Santa Fe
ELITE Level I, Part II
Grievance Handling,
DisciplinaryActions
June 27 2015
AFSCME Hall -Santa Fe

The vast majority of police officers protect

and serve their communities with honor,
integrity and professionalism. As president
of AFSCME, a union that represents
more than 100,000 public safety
employees, I will always speak out when
all officers are attacked based on the
actions of a few.
During the past few months, our nation
has been engaged in a long-overdue but
no-less-difficult discussion about race,
justice and the role of law enforcement.
Let me be clear. Our union has long stood,
unwavering, for the core values of the civil
rights movement, with fairness and justice
for all paramount among them. We will
continue to do so. But our fight for justice
and respect extends to all women and men
who put themselves in harm's way every
day, especially while in the line of duty as a
law enforcement officer.
The members of our union will not
condone officers abusing their
communities' trust. But we will always
stand with officers across this nation who
keep us safe and who strengthen our
communities. It is sickening to see law
enforcement targeted with violence, as
they have been nationwide in recent
months.
Just a few days before Christmas, two
officers in Brooklyn, New York, were
gunned down in an ambush on their patrol
car. Last month in Philadelphia, a police
officer was shot while protecting
customers in a video store as a robbery
unfolded. He'd stopped in to buy a game
for his 8-year-old son, who'd made him
proud with good grades. Recently, in
Ferguson, Missouri, two officers were
wounded -- deliberate shooting targets
while keeping the peace at the protests
that have embroiled the city.
In all, 116 officers were killed in 2014,
leaving behind wives, husbands and
children. These women and men answered
a call to service. Every day, thousands
more like them suit up to keep our streets
safe, knowing full well that they might not
make it home after their shift's end. They
guard our homes and businesses. When
disaster strikes, they come to the rescue.
They face down criminals with automatic
weapons -- entire arsenals in some cases --

while they themselves often carry only a

service weapon.
And too often today, the danger they face
is because a politician cut funding to their
department without bothering to ask what
kind of risk that would pose to our
neighborhoods, or because a city council
thought it would save some money by
buying outdated equipment, only to find
out that it was a bad deal that put lives in
jeopardy.
When it's not danger they're facing, it's
disrespect. That comes when police officer
pensions are cut, when their collective
bargaining rights are revoked, or when
they're asked to pay more and more for
healthcare benefits, or it comes from
politicians like the Connecticut legislators
who refused to provide treatment for posttraumatic stress to the brave officers who
responded to the horrific shooting at
Sandy Hook Elementary School.
And, finally, too often the disrespect police
that officers face comes from their fellow
citizens. When a handful of officers fail to
uphold their duties or live up to our
expectations, all are vilified in a media
circus. Keyboard cowboys think nothing
of firing off a tweet disrespecting police,
knowing nothing of facing actual live fire.
We expect police officers to size up a
dangerous situation instantly and make the
right decision every time. We expect them
to be social workers. We ask them to be
humanitarians.
It is a mistake to think that because they
are on the front lines, it's the role of police
officers alone to fix the deep-rooted
inequalities afflicting too many Americans.
But officers must absolutely be active
participants in an honest dialogue about
the problems rooted in race and poverty
that face our nation.
It is our job to figure out a way to make
American life more fair and equitable for
everyone, and we cannot ignore this
opportunity to have a frank conversation
that brings everyone to the table.
Together, we must confront the difficult
truths about who we are as a nation and
set a course forward that strengthens our
neighborhoods, be they urban or rural.

***OFFICIAL NOTICE***

LABOR VOWS TO
KEEP FIGHTING
cont. from pg 1

Citizens packed multiple town hall meetings

across the state to debate legislative issues
and inform their communities about the harm
of right to work legislation. Workers went
door-to-door and gathered thank you letters
to Senators who supported pro-worker
issues.
"Once the dust settles, we will see that
instead of using our limited time in the
legislature to prioritize the things that will
make our state a better place for all New
Mexico's working families, Republicans
under the leadership of the governor's office
wasted time playing politics with our state's
prosperity," said Jon Hendry, president of
New Mexico Federation of Labor.
"We thank the working family champions in
the legislature who helped to defeat terrible
legislation like the right to work scam. We
hope in the future, all our elected leaders will
work together to focus on the real priorities of
New Mexico working families: improving
public education, making healthcare more
affordable, ensuring safe staffing ratios in our
hospitals, raising the minimum wage,
attracting jobs and growing the economy."

2015 LEGISLATIVE
SUMMARY cont. from pg 1
oppose outsourcing our core public
services. Together, we held all but two
Democrats on the House Floor, and the
Republican privatization scheme was
killed in the Senate by Democrats.

PROTECTING PENSIONS
Albuquerque Mayor R.J. Berry and his
Republican consultants (who also work
for Governor Martinez) pulled out all
the stops to get special treatment for
high-end, well-connected management
and cronies to raid PERA to
supplement their salaries. We worked
closely with PERA and with the
Albuquerque Police Officers
Association to expose fiscal
irresponsibility and other problems with
raiding the pension fund, and stopped
their attacks on PERA.

BUDGET AND CAPITAL

OUTLAY
Governor Martinez and the Republican
House introduced budgets with zero
raises for state and university employees,
even though there was $83 million of
new money available. This is, of course,
the same governor who has proposed
pay freezes or pay cuts for each of the
five legislative sessions she has been in
power, even though we've had strong
surpluses most of those years. The last
two years, we've had a Democratic
House to push through a total of 4%
raises over her objections. With the
Republican takeover of the House in the
2014 elections, though, New Mexico
budgets will likely continue to reflect
their values of tax cuts for the rich and
corporations instead of investing in
New Mexicans.

Capital outlay was another sadly

partisan anti-worker affair. To their
credit, senators in both parties, on a
40-0 vote, passed a $264 million capital
outlay budget. House Democrats
agreed to accept that clearly bipartisan
compromise. House Republicans,
though, at the bidding of Governor
Martinez' staff, eliminated huge
portions of capital outlay to help senior
citizens, kids, the sick, corrections
officers, and dozens of buildings where
public employees work (all to reward
oil-patch donors with a new road). As a
result of Governor Martinez and House
Republicans blowing up a strong
bipartisan agreement, thousands of
New Mexicans won't have jobs, and
New Mexico's infrastructure will
deteriorate for another year.
cont. pg 4

2015 LEGISLATIVE SUMMARY cont. from pg 3

GOOD GOVERNMENT
Legislation to expose "dark money" in
independent expenditures died.
AFSCME is involved in some
independent expenditures but we're
honest about them, unlike billionaires and
out-of-state corporate behemoths who do
their best to hide their identities.
Hopefully future bills will be simpler,
clearer, and will receive more support.

bipartisan bill requiring all public

employers to allow sick leave donations.

JUST THE BEGINNING

If working families don't vote in big

numbers, well continue to face attacks.
We know that so-called right to work
and other anti-worker legislation will
return in the 2016 session, if not sooner.
We'll keep fighting, but we'll primarily
be playing defense until workers, union
and non-union, come out to vote. In
A slew of bad voter ID bills designed to
suppress votes of the elderly, the poor, and 2014, not enough did. It will fall to
AFSCME and other unions to lead the
especially Native Americans and
Hispanics in traditional communities were charge to return our government to proworker, pro-family elected leaders in
killed in the Senate.
2016 and 2018.

BIPARTISAN SUCCESSES

A few bills were clearly good for all New

Mexicans and gained bipartisan support.
One bill supported by both AFSCME and
the Children, Youth, and Families
Department allows for CYFD repayment
of student loans for people who are already
working to protect kids or who decide to
make this noble profession their career.
AFSCME also supported a successful

NEW MEXICO WORKS

AFSCME Council 18 New Mexico

1202 Pennsylvania St NE

Albuquerque NM 87110

505-266-2505

505-266-2404 fax

We'll be reaching out to every local, every

worksite, and every member and retiree to
Visit the AFSCME18.org webpage to read
ask you to be part of taking back our
state over the next few months and years. about recent news and upcoming events.
EMAIL: info@AFSCME18.org to make
We've escaped the worst of the attacks
certain you are on the email lists to receive
that have already hit workers around the
important action items.
country, but we can't hold on forever
Join the conversation on social media
unless we take back our state by
FACEBOOK.com/AFSCME18
organizing and being engaged in our
TWITTER: @AFSCME18
elections.

AFSCME 18 - Web ACTIVE!