The New Mexico State University National Education Association has served the school with another prohibited practice complaint after the graduate workers union served one last week.
Union members gathered at the steps of Hadley Hall and then hand-delivered a prohibited practice complaint to NMSU President Valerio Ferme just a week after the graduate workers union on campus did the same thing.
Representatives from both unions said their actions were not coordinated, but are evidence of NMSU’s poor bargaining practices.
The union points to more than 20 instances of alleged bad-faith bargaining in the last six months, which it says have delayed contract negotiations, resulting in 662 days of negotiation.
The union alleges that the school has canceled negotiation meetings with very short notice, scheduled negotiations when union members were off-contract and presented only one proposal during 21 months of negotiating that only benefited the school.
The union also points to one instance where the union was discussing status quo economic proposals presented by the school, and the university’s general counsel allegedly said “Do you think that status quo is the lowest we can go?”
Jamie Bronstein, a member with the union, said this was the first time a prohibited practice complaint was served by their union.
“When we hand in an article, it can take months for them to give anything back, they are never able to or willing to actually discuss details on the day of which we hand something over to them. They always say that they need to take it away and look at it and it has meant that months go by without us being able to make progress. In terms of the progress, when they hand everything back crossed out without a rationale to why it was crossed out or a suggestion on what would be better instead, that is not good faith bargaining,” Bronstein said.
Some of the unions asks during these negotiations include paid parental leave, better compensation, and better healthcare benefits.
Bargaining spokesperson and English professor Michelle Granger said the average negotiation length for a first contract in the education space is about 400 days. With negotiations nearing 700, she said the school is purposely delaying.
“When our last bargaining sessions were canceled, it really felt like a gut punch. I mean I was just kind of shocked. We have spent so much time preparing our proposals, preparing our articles and really working in good faith in hopes of collaborating with the administration to give us a first contract that's fair and reflects the values of NMSU,” Granger said.
In a statement, NMSU said “New Mexico State University is aware of the complaint and will respond through the appropriate administrative process. NMSU remains committed to fulfilling its obligations under the Public Employee Bargaining Act and engaging in good-faith collective bargaining. We will not comment further on the specific allegations while the matter is pending.”
