News

Governor Lujan Grisham: State Employees Not Key Enough to Invest In

January 13, 2021
Editor

Earlier today, the Albuquerque Journal quoted a spokeswoman for Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham who tried to explain why the governor did not support a pay raise for state and other public employees in her budget recommendations.

“While pay increases for state employees is certainly something we would like to be able to support, and something the administration has advocated for strongly in the last two fiscal years, the executive recommendation for (the coming fiscal year) is focused on preserving and enhancing key investments in programs that make a difference for New Mexicans,” Lujan Grisham spokeswoman Nora Meyers Sackett said.

Albuquerque Journal ¡ Tuesday, January 12th, 2021

Really, governor?

“The very people who carry out the work of state programs and who have continued to deliver services to the people of New Mexico throughout the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic have been seriously disrespected by the governor and her communications team,” stated new CWA 7076 President Dan Secrist.

Secrist added, “We are mobilizing the employees we represent as well as their family members and friends to remind the governor that we have been working every day to make sure the lights are on, the heat is sufficient, health facilities are cleaned, and the people of New Mexico are served and protected.”

As to the Governor’s claims that she advocated strongly for state employee pay raises, “We remember that after years of being underpaid and understaffed, Governor Lujan Grisham gave state employees less than she gave other public employees, including her own staff who have seen their yearly salaries increase in amounts of $10,000 to $20,000 since she took office.”

CWA represents thousands of state and other public employees, and although the Legislative Finance Committee is proposing a 1.5% pay raise to state employees it comes up way short of what is fair.

“There are more than 3,000 state employees who are paid less by the state than a living wage. And those who do get paid more, have not had a raise sufficient to keep up with the cost of living for years,” added Secrist.

CWA will be proposing a fair pay raise and a living minimum wage for all state employees.

More to come next week.

[Home page: pool photo by Eddie Moore / Albuquerque Journal]