After five years of battling the school board, the superintendent and an anti-union law firm, more than 1,500 teachers and PSRPs in the Gallup-McKinley County school district in New Mexico have won back collective bargaining rights. Workers there, like many in New Mexico, had collective bargaining but lost those rights when the state bargaining law expired under a Republican governor in 1999. Current Democratic governor Bill Richardson signed a new bargaining law in 2003, but it required a whole new effort in many districts to rebuild the union.

That's what happened in Gallup, where the state labor relations board on Feb. 26 certified the AFT New Mexico affiliate as the bargaining agent. Under the law, unions that had bargaining under the previous law could submit authorization cards from the majority of the unit, rather than holding an election, in order to be certified. The Gallup unit includes about 1,100 teachers and 450 blue-collar support staff. White-collar PSRPs, such as paraprofessionals and secretaries, are not included, but future organizing will target them.

The New Mexico victory was as much political as anything, says AFT national representative Rethea Morris, who coordinated the campaign. The school board, the local labor board and the superintendent were all major obstacles to the union. So the union, working in coalition with the Navajo Nation, helped elect three new school board members (on a five-member board). In addition, the former superintendent's contract was not renewed, and jurisdiction for the case was taken away from an unpredictable local labor board and returned to the state board, which both were important changes.

Meanwhile, Morris says, organizers had to keep returning to the district to get more authorization cards signed, which was a challenge because of high turnover and the district's occasional use of state police to "escort" them off campus.

"This great victory carries a lot of lessons," says Phil Kugler, AFT's director of organization and field services, "the linkage of politics and organizing, both at the state and local levels; the importance of continuing commitment and support; and the strength of partnership of all levels of our union working together." AFT New Mexico president Christine Trujillo and vice president Kathy Chavez both kept up the pressure and helped support the vital local political efforts, and local president Brian Bernard persisted through all the tough ups and downs the union experienced.

After such a long struggle, Morris says, the main thing union members in the district want is a first contract. The good news is that the local won't have to deal with the anti-union law firm the district had employed because that firm was recently fired.

February 29, 2008