Following through on a campaign promise, Gov. Bill Richardson in March signed a bill that reinstated collective bargaining for New Mexico educators and other public employees.

Richardson, a Democrat elected with strong support from the New Mexico Federation of Educational Employees (NMFEE) and other unions in the state, praised hard-working employees during the bill-signing ceremony. "As we saw during 9/11, public employees courageously put their lives on the line for all of us. Yet, even in New Mexico we took our public employees for granted. Those days are gone."

The previous bargaining law--passed in 1992--contained a "sunset" provision that expired after seven years. Even though the state Legislature passed bills to revive bargaining, the former Republican governor, Gary Johnson, repeatedly vetoed them. "It has been a long time coming," says NMFEE president Christine Trujillo, who also heads the state AFL-CIO.

The new law, which takes effect July 1, will extend bargaining rights to about 30,000 school, college and university employees in the state. Although some school districts and colleges continued to bargain with their employee unions after the law had expired, thousands of workers lost their contracts. The law also applies to unionized city, county and state employees.

The AFT now will seek to organize at least 20 units in the state, covering more than 6,000 workers, reports AFT organizing director Phil Kugler. Many of these were units that had collective bargaining rights before the law expired. Thanks to an agreement with the NEA state affiliate, as well as an understanding with other AFL-CIO unions, these opportunities won't be hampered by infighting, notes Kugler. [Barbara McKenna / AFT On Campus]

[May 15, 2003]