Articles today in both the Albuquerque Journal and the Santa Fe New Mexican further detailed the Governor’s massive pay increases to her executive staff during a time when she asked the legislature to make cuts in the state budget.
According to her press secretary, the Governor’s staff deserved the raises because they have, “worked 24 hours a day, seven days a week to direct the state’s COVID-19 response and continue to provide important information to the public.”
Tell that to CWA Members at the Department of Health — the nurses, security, custodians, and other staff — who work the front lines at clinics and testing sites around the state. They have put their health and lives on the line 24 hours a day, 7 days a week directly fighting this deadly disease, all while seeing their hard-earned raise either cut or yanked away from them.
CWA continues to fight hard to get back the raise we lost last year with a modest cost of living increase, as well as standing with the President, calling for a living wage for the lowest-paid public employees in the state. We ask the Governor and the Legislature to stand with our members in this fight and give them the recognition and pay they deserve for the hard work that they have given to all the people of New Mexico … including the Governor’s executive staff.