Honorable Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham,

We are writing to you as dedicated State Employees and members of CWA Local 7076 to ask you to direct your representatives to negotiate in good faith about the following items as we bargain our next Collective Bargaining Agreement.

We know that, as Governor, you want the State to be a family-friendly employer and a great place for New Mexicans to work. We share that vision. Since our first bargaining meeting in July of 2024, we have focused on presenting proposals that will reduce the high vacancy rates and turnover we are experiencing in our work groups. However, your bargaining team has been unwilling to productively bargain over any of these proposals.

Together, we have identified the following priorities for our next Collective Bargaining Agreement:

1) Guaranteed Cost of Living Raises: We are fighting for better pay and cost-of-living raises that keep up with inflation. As State employees, we fall behind every year that our legislative raises don’t meet the rising cost of living. This makes it impossible for us to plan for our families’ futures. We have proposed language in Article 25 that would ensure that annual raises would meet the rising cost of living.

2) Remote Work and Alternate Work Locations: We know that we can work from many locations across our beautiful state. We are fighting for modern business practices that can help with work life/balance and bring jobs back to rural communities. Less commute time means fewer cars on the road and more time with our families. When building safety issues arise, we are being sent home on paid administrative leave and fall behind on our work, when we could be productively working from another location if these policies were in place. We have proposed new articles to address these issues, but your team has been unwilling to discuss them at the bargaining table.

3) More Paid Leave: In 2024, the Legislature paid Deloitte over a million dollars to identify areas where the State could improve as an employer. One of the key findings was that our annual leave offerings were below market value. We have proposed increased annual leave accrual rates that are similar to both other local and national government employers.

Paid Parental Leave, as granted through your 2020 Executive Order, has been one of the most impactful changes made to State employment in recent years. The benefit of being able to grow our families while not having to worry about the financial impact is so important to so many of us. We are proposing that Paid Parental Leave be enshrined in our contract, to support families and to ensure that we have access to this important benefit in future administrations.

4) Better Workplace Health and Safety: We are fighting for safer working conditions and safer worksites. A recent information request showed that many employees are working in buildings without emergency action plans, agencies aren’t holding the required Health and Safety Committee or Prevention and Loss Committee meetings, or providing the most basic health and safety training to employees. When we proposed robust changes to Article 27, Safety, your bargaining team rejected nearly all of our proposals. We need protections in our contract to ensure that we have the right to a safe workplace.

We ask that as the Governor, and signatory on the Collective Bargaining Agreement, that you direct your bargaining team to engage in good faith bargaining to improve the working conditions for the employees of the State of New Mexico. We are asking you to stand with your employees and negotiate a contract that is better for our families and ensures that the State of New Mexico is a competitive and desirable employer.