BUDGET/FURLOUGHS/LAYOFFS/PAYCUTS
HB 854 is likely going to be heard Thursday afternoon or evening in Senate Public Affairs. We all know it's a brutal year, but it's just wrong to have only state employees and educational employees being the only ones to pay more to the state to help make up the deficit.
Please call BOTH the Senate Public Affairs Committee members and Senate Finance Committee members with these three messages:
1. Please table House Bill 854.
2. If we're going to have shared sacrifice, everyone should chip in, not just state employees--please consider revenue alternatives like combined reporting in Senate Bill 389 [note: SB 389 died tonight, but we want to register calls for that bill to help lay groundwork for the special session in April or May]
3. IF there is any sacrifice by state employees, make the sacrifice progressive by asking the best-paid state employees to pay a higher percentage.
Senate Public Affairs Democrats
Senate Public Affairs Republicans
Senate Finance Democrats
Nancy Rodriguez (D-Santa Fe) 986-4264 [no email]
Senate Finance Republicans
PERA/ERA
Things have been going very well lately in our attempts to have a place at the table for any retirement reform. First, AFSCME led a coalition of unions in defeating a bill mandating a 30-year retirement for all new employees starting this July. Earlier today, we participated in an important discussion with leading legislators focused on this issue with CWA, AFT, NEA, IAFF, and FOP. We are now hopeful that there will be no changes until July 1, 2010, and that those changes will be made with unions at the table.
We will keep everyone apprised of any need to make calls into committees if there is an attempt to force changes to start this July without our input.
CHILD CARE ORGANIZING
AFSCME attained a major victory on Tuesday when the Senate passed SB 402 (Cisneros) allowing home-based child care providers to organize and bargain with CYFD. There's no more important time for workers to have a union than when everyone from the public to the legislature is targeting us for pay and benefit cuts, and we should all be happy for our sisters and brothers who perform the hard work of day care that they are going to have a voice in their work life.
The vote was 24-13, but it was closer than that. Steven Neville (R-Aztec) made a motion to send SB 402 to Senate Finance, even though all expenditures related to child care negotiations will have to be approved by the legislature (meaning they control any fiscal impact). We survived that vote 21-17.
SB 402 now goes over to the House, which passed an identical house version (HB 245, Miguel Garcia). Because the bill has essentially been heard already, it only has one committee assignment--House Labor.
AFSCME organizer Rosa Soto and child care provider Alicia Roman, both from southern New Mexico, helped lobby during the last two days, and Rosa did a great job as our floor expert. Jenn Shaw has been lobbying the bill for three years, and deserves a ton of credit for educating legislators and convincing them that the opportunity to form a union is important for workers as well as kids and the state.
Special thanks to Republicans Sander Rue and Clinton Harden, both of whom fought off pressure from their own party to support workers. Please call to thank them:
ARBITRATION
HB 15 is still in Senate Judiciary, which has yet to start hearing many House bills. We expect it to pass Senate Judiciary, and when it does, we will need a flood of calls and emails to key Senators to keep it out of Senate Finance and to pass it on the Senate floor.
OTHER BILLS
AFSCME is fighting for our right to educate the public on issues. There are multiple bills that would greatly restrict our ability to communicate with the public, including HB 808 (Bandy). As soon as HB 808 is scheduled for House Judiciary, we will ask for calls and emails asking the legislature to table it. There is no reason to restrict non-profits while corporations are allowed to spend unlimited dollars on political and issue advocacy without any real restrictions.
Also, Sen. Wirth's SB 389 and 648 were killed by about 25 corporate lobbyists in Senate Corporations earlier tonight. Remember the shared sacrifice that is being asked of state employees and university employees? It's apparently a concept that big business doesn't believe in and, sadly, that the legislature so far hasn't supported.
During the special session, we're going to revive some of the key concepts in Sen. Wirth's bills, especially the idea that it's just wrong that big out-of-state corporations use tax avoidance schemes to pay a lower tax rate than New Mexico businesses.
SB 451 (Ingle), which would limit our contributions (and everyone else's) to $6,000, but would also get candidates access to electronic voter files, is going to House Labor. We are seeking to amend the bill to explicitly guarantee that our member contact programs don't count towards the $6,000.
Keep your heads up--you should be proud to be part of a union that is having great success in protecting our members' benefits and is making some progress in limiting how much our paychecks are going to be affected by the Bush recession/depression.
We're reaching out to the media to push our message, pursuing grassroots calls and emails, and contacting every possible vote to make the case that New Mexico shouldn't--and can't--forget about the public employees who make everything the state does work. Your calls and emails are a big part of our ability to make that case every day, so don't stop now. Gracias a todos!
Carter Bundy
Political Action Representative
AFSCME International
1202 Pennsylvania St. NE
Albuquerque, NM 87110
(505) 266-2177 ext. 13 (work)
(505) 266-3155 (fax)
