City employees' union rejects contract

Jul. 17—Contract negotiations have stalled between the city of Santa Fe and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3999, the union that represents much of its workforce.

Union members recently rejected a proposed contract amendment from the city's administration, claiming officials removed a clause important to their bargaining rights.

Although the City Council has adopted a budget for the current fiscal year that includes a 3% raise for all employees who make less than $100,000 per year, city officials are still required to negotiate a contract with union employees that reflects the pay increases.

A negotiation session between the administration and union is scheduled for Tuesday.

The sticking point in the negotiations, AFSCME Local 3999 Vice President Louis Demella said, was a clause in the contract called a "limited reopener" that requires the city administration to reengage in negotiations with the union if the Governing Body appropriates additional funds for employees beyond raises proposed by the city manager.

He said the administration proposed an amendment to the collective bargaining agreement that quietly removed the language, prompting the union membership to vote against it.

"They've been expecting our membership to rubber stamp this for many months," Demella said in an interview Monday. "But we are expecting the city to negotiate in good faith and we think we can get through this."

The city did not respond to questions about the negotiations Monday.

The contract amendment appeared on the agenda for a July 12 City Council meeting, but councilors removed the item since it had been rejected by the union.

The membership of two other labor unions that represent city police and firefighters have voted to approve the citywide pay raises along with other additional benefits for public safety employees.

During the meeting, Demella told the City Council "even with the increase in health insurance costs and [Public Employees Retirement Association] contributions, our membership is willing to wait to ensure that the language changes to our [collective bargaining agreement] reflect the best interests of our members."

He said the current administration's "inability to collaborate with AFSCME over these years" had been "disappointing but not surprising."

City Manager John Blair objected to Demella's comments later in the meeting, calling the suggestion the city has been unwilling to collaborate "disingenuous at best" and more likely "false or misleading."

Blair noted five pay increases that have been approved for city employees in the past six years, along with some retention bonuses. Prior to 2018, he said, there were five years out of 10 without such raises.

Blair said raises in recent years had a "compounding effect," and the current 3% raise was an equitable measure to ensure employees' salaries did not decrease due to increased costs of health care and public retirement program payments.

Demella pointed out that employees working for both the state government as well as Santa Fe County are earning 6% increases to the city's 3% in the new fiscal year.

Union employees at the city would also like to receive a higher rate of bilingual incentive pay, which Demella said has remained flat for union employees at the city for a decade in spite of increases in bilingual pay for city police.

Retention bonuses went only to the city's police and firefighters this year, Demella pointed out, instead of to all employees.

Demella argued city government has become made "top-heavy," with lower-level city employees increasingly burdened with more responsibilities in recent years as a result of fewer unionized staff and more management positions.

He referred to an addition of more management positions "in and across city departments" in recent years.

"When I have members who directly engage with the public, the public wants to know what these positions are doing," Demella said. "My members can't answer that."