Editor,
This is in support of letters previously written by Russell Morris and Catherine Osborn regarding initiation of a movement to decertify United Staff on the UNM campuses.
For those who may not have read those letters, the gist was that a very small minority of dues-paying members is making decisions that affect all the members of the collective bargaining unit known as United Staff-UNM, about 1,000-1,100 positions. US-UNM negotiates salary increases for every position in the collective bargaining unit. It makes no difference whether you are an outstanding or mediocre performer, your salary increase will be whatever US-UNM succeeds in negotiating. This year negotiations reached an impasse that was not resolved by a federal mediator and will now go before the UNM Board of Regents for consideration. The only reason those of us caught in the collective bargaining unit received even a 2 percent increase was that UNM management elected to provide that increase despite the impasse.
Those of us who do not want to be represented by a collective bargaining unit but prefer to stand on our own merits and performance are organizing. If you are interested in joining us and helping with a petition drive calling for an election to decertify United Staff, contact one of the following:
Russell Morris (rwmorris@unm.edu)
Marsha Baumeister (mbaumeis@unm.edu)
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Lisa Dillon (ldillon@salud.unm.edu)
You might also go to the Human Resource website, select "Employer Relations/Unions." There are three documents containing information regarding the timing of petition submission and elections: Labor Relations Rules & Regulations, Board of Regents Policy on Labor-Management Relations and Bargaining Unit Contracts/US-UNM. Appendix A of the final document includes a list of all positions included in the collective bargaining unit.
Write letters to the Lobo, talk to coworkers and get ready for action this fall.
Marsha Baumeister
Administrative Assistant
General Accounting
