Communications Workers of America, Local 7076
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 28, 2021
Contact: Rachel Magnin, rachel.magnin@berlinrosen.com
With New Mexico set to receive $1.75 billion in pandemic relief funds, union calls on Governor to provide state’s public workforce with premium pay and restore previously budgeted raises.
SANTA FE – The Communications Workers of America, Local 7076 (CWA Local 7076), representing public workers throughout the state of New Mexico, is urging Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham to use the incoming federal pandemic relief funds to provide public sector workers with premium pay for their in-person work during the pandemic and the restoration of salary raises that were previously budgeted. The state of New Mexico will receive $1.75 billion in federal relief funds, as a result of the American Rescue Plan, and the Treasury Department has empowered state and local governments with broad discretion and specific guidance on how to allocate these funds and help their local economies recover from the pandemic.
In a letter sent to Governor Lujan Grisham yesterday, CWA Local 7076 states that New Mexico’s public workforce must be fairly compensated for their extraordinary work during the COVID-19 pandemic, routinely going above and beyond to serve the public in-person, even at significant risk to their own health and well-being. The union notes that many of these same public workers are currently living on substandard wages and have experienced significant austerity measures in recent years—both with no pay raises and the elimination of thousands of public sector jobs.
Furthermore, New Mexico’s public workforce was scheduled to receive a 4% to 5% raise prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, only to have that pay increase rescinded or reduced while the state was dealing with the crisis. Despite revenue estimates projecting an additional $300 million in FY22, raises for public workers inexplicably were not restored, and essential workers were left with a token 1.5% increase.
We are writing to urge you to use your discretionary authority over these federal funds—and your moral authority as a statewide leader—to provide New Mexico’s essential workers with badly needed premium pay and the restoration of the raises they were promised before COVID-19.
Dan Secrist, president of Communications Workers of America, Local 7076
“We are writing to urge you to use your discretionary authority over these federal funds—and your moral authority as a statewide leader—to provide New Mexico’s essential workers with badly needed premium pay and the restoration of the raises they were promised before COVID-19,” wrote Dan Secrist, president of Communications Workers of America, Local 7076. “We are counting on you to make public workers a priority when allocating these federal pandemic funds, and in developing the next fiscal year’s budget.”
Upon receiving the federal pandemic relief funds, the union urges Governor Lujan Grisham to take the following actions on behalf of New Mexico’s public workers:
- Provide Premium Pay: The Treasury Department has made clear that these pandemic relief funds can be used to provide retroactive premium pay to essential workers who bore the greatest health risks because of their service during the pandemic.
- Restore Previously Budgeted Raises: The Treasury Department indicates that the pandemic funds can be used to replace public revenues to strengthen support for vital public services and help retain jobs. It is critical that the state of New Mexico restores the raises for public workers that were previously budgeted prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Doing so will help ensure these workers can make ends meet and support their families.
- Fight poverty with a minimum livable wage: The LFC determined raising State employees to a minimum of $15 per hour would only cost an additional $28 million. Poverty wages are a continuing moral injustice to New Mexico’s public sector employees, their families, and an economic drag on their communities.
CWA Local 7076 represents public employees working for the State of New Mexico, University of New Mexico (UNM), University of New Mexico Hospitals (UNMH), Central New Mexico Community College (CNM), and the Timberon Water and Sanitation Department.
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