Editor,
After the recent collective bargaining negotiations with the United Staff-UNM were concluded, the Department of Human Resources began receiving telephone calls from staff and supervisors seeking “equity increases” for staff in this bargaining unit.
From these callers, we learned they had been advised to apply for these increases by representatives of the United Staff-UNM.
Unfortunately there are no provisions for these types of increases, either under University personnel policies or under the terms of the agreement with the union.
During the negotiations, we agreed with the union to fully adopt the terms and conditions of UNM’s Business Policies and Procedures (“Big Red”) as the contract and to award all employees covered by the agreement a 6.5 percent across-the-board pay raise.
This is the amount awarded by the state Legislature to UNM for staff salary increases.
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Since all the funds for staff salary increases for the affected employees have been spent with the across-the-board raise, there are no additional funds available for other increases.
Also, the agreement we have reached with the union does not allow for individual “merit” or “equity” increases for any person.
UNM Business Policies and Procedures only provides for raises based on equity when the salary of a newly hired employee is equal to or greater than current employees with the same job title in the same department, as specified in policy number 3500.
Because US-UNM agreed to adopt “Big Red” as the union contract, this policy will be applied to members of that bargaining unit.
There was no agreement made with this union for any other type of “equity” increase.
We have met and discussed this issue with authorized representatives from the United Staff-UNM, and have informed them that the information they have been providing to employees is incorrect.
They concurred with the University’s position.
It is unfortunate that some employees were led to believe they might be eligible for additional increases when this is not the case, but I hope this letter will help clear up the misunderstanding.
Susan A. Carkeek,
Associate Vice President/Director
Human Resources
