UPDATE ON NEGOTIATIONS

Between the Classified School Employees Council of Las Cruces (CSEC-LC) and the Las Cruces Public Schools

Q:  Why did negotiations begin so late this year?

            A:  Your Union (CSEC-LC) does not know the answer to this question.  According to your Contract, negotiations were supposed to begin no later than March 15.  Therefore, your Union attempted on numerous occasions before March 15 to get the current administration to begin bargaining.  The current administration did not show up to begin bargaining until the end of May.  In the past, negotiations were normally over and the contract ratified by the time this current administration actually attended the first negotiating session this year.

Q:  What is the status of negotiations?

            A:  On Wednesday, June 14, 2006 the District lead negotiator, Danny Martinez, declared an impasse and stated, “There is nothing further to discuss.”

Q:  What is an impasse?

            A:  An impasse occurs when the District and CSEC-LC could not reach agreement.  Most of the time, an impasse occurs when both sides are done talking.  However, the District declared impasse prior to the CSEC-LC being done willing to negotiate.  On June 14, 2006, CSEC-LC placed an updated proposal before Danny Martinez to consider.  Rather than looking at how CSEC-LC proposed to finance its proposal, Mr. Martinez simply said, “The Budget is such that the District is not willing to expend additional money.”

Q:  What is the next step?

            A:  On Friday, June 16, 2006, CSEC-LC requested a federal mediator be appointed to help with negotiations.  The mediator will now meet with the District and CSEC-LC to try and work out a compromise.

Q:  Will impasse affect our state-mandated pay raises?

            A:  It shouldn’t.  During an impasse, the District is allowed to implement their last, best offer.  Therefore, the custodians should receive at least a 5% raise and the educational assistants should receive at least a 9.5% raise.    We are at impasse because CSEC-LC believes you should receive a more adequate increase so we are no longer the working poor.

Q:  What is CSEC-LC 's proposal?

            A:  CSEC-LC has proposed an average increase of $1,440.00 for each employee.

            A:  The District was offering the custodians an average of $918 per employee while the District was offering the educational assistants an average of $1,291.

Q:  How did CSEC-LC propose paying for this extra increase?

A:  CSEC-LC proposed several options.  The following options used by themselves, or together would have provided the necessary funding to improve your wages:

1)      Reduce the average raise for administrators-

a)      Under the District proposal, each administrator was going to get an average of a $2,683.58 raise.  The District was going to give the 171 administrators $458,892 worth of pay raises.

2)      Readjust line items in the budget-

a)      Reduce the $195,000 budgeted for legal expenses to $125,000 (if an attorney charged $200.00 per hour, the attorney would have to work an 8-hour day with no breaks for 122 days to reach $195,000 or if an attorney charged $150.00 per hour, the attorney would have to work an 8-hour day with no breaks for 163 days to reach $195,000).  CSEC-LC believes our tax money should be spent on employees, not attorneys.

3)      Use a small potion of the $4,925,383.32 UNRESTRICTED operational cash balance.

4)      Use the money left over from last year (approximately $2 million).

CSEC-LC hopes you enjoyed the District’s recent comments on the news and in the newspaper.  According to these recent comments the District is claiming they cannot give their administrators anything less than a 5%  raise (you should be aware the District never made these comments at the bargaining table).  Here is the truth about the District’s proposal they don’t want you to know:

Job Classification            Proposed $ Increase            Proposed % Increase            Average Salary

Coordinators                            $1,742                                  3.4%                            $52,261

Guidance Counselors                $1,162                                  2.6%                            $45,062

Registered Nurses                     $1,092                                  2.6%                            $42,755

Duty Personnel                          $00.00                                  0.0%                            $1,830

Interpreters                               $450                                     1.2%                            $37,630

Custodians                               $918                                      5.0%                            $18,359

Educational Asst.                   $1,291                                   9.5%                            $12,849

Principal                                  $3,096                                   5.2%                           $62,907

Admin. Associates                    $4,800                                   5.0%                            $100,800

Business Manage                      $4,800                                   5.0%                            $100,800

CSEC-LC believes your hard work and dedication to the students of this District believes to be noticed through adequate compensation.  Why is it the administrators of this District believe they should receive a larger dollar increase than you?  Why should the principals receive a higher percentage and our other colleagues receive lower percentages if the District administration is claiming they are not allowed to give any group lower than a 5%  raise?

Please help CSEC-LC by attending the next School Board meeting to demonstrate our solidarity.  Together, we can achieve more.  For additional information, please feel free to contact CSEC-LC.  Future bargaining updates can be seen by visiting our website at nm.aft.org/csec at the collective bargaining updates link.