CABQ Seal ImageALBUQUERQUE — A leader of the city’s blue collar workers says his members weren’t asked who they wanted to endorse for mayor before their parent union gave the endorsement to incumbent Mayor Martin Chavez in late May.

And some union members are voting tomorrow in an election aimed at discerning the workers’ true preference.

American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 624 Vice President Jerry Sanchez told the Independent that workers in his local union weren’t polled about who they favored. Instead, he said, a committee made the decision.

But AFSCME Political Director Carter Bundy said members were polled by AFSCME’s  national polling center in a telephone survey before the union’s “PEOPLE Committee” made its endorsement. They didn’t have the final results before the endorsement, but the committee felt they had a general sense of what the polling would reflect, which was  born out by the official results. That polling combined with other outreach and debate resulted in the Chavez endorsement, he said.

The PEOPLE Committee is composed of seven representatives of the various locals who make up the approximately 3,500 city workers who are members of AFSCME. Two of those seven are from Local 624 because that local represents city blue-collar workers,  like transit and solid waste workers, plus workers at the water utility authority.

Sanchez disputes that members of his local were polled.

“I can’t be certain if they did polling for the mayor, but what I do know is that I’ve talked to every blue collar that I know, and none of them was called,” he said. “We have a lot of people who are going to be dropping out of the union, because they went and endorsed Marty Chavez without our say-so.”

Sanchez said that AFSCME should have been diligent about reaching out to the members of the local, who represent a large percentage of the labor force of city government.

Bundy said that Local 624 has over 1,000 workers and that a telephone poll would have only resulted in a sampling of that number being polled. He also said there were written and verbal comments collected at the union’s candidate information session in April. Both Chavez, the all-but-declared candidate for reelection, and mayoral candidate Richard R.J. Berry skipped that session, instead sending representatives. Former New Mexico Senate President Pro Tem Richard Romero was the only mayoral candidate to attend.

Regardless, Sanchez said, the local has publicly denounced the endorsement and will hold an election tomorrow at the union hall from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

“If the members decide to go with Marty Chavez then that’s what we’ll do,” he said. “But this will give them an opportunity to have their say. We’re a member-driven union so making sure our members get their say is very important.”

Bundy said he thinks that’s fine, although he questions the outcome, whatever it may be.

“We don’t want to discourage political activity; we encourage it in fact,” he said. “But it’s important to remember that those that come by the union hall on Thursday might be self-selecting. The way we do it is through scientific polling. We have to follow our process, otherwise things don’t have credibility or authority.”

Bundy said the process through which AFSCME makes endorsements stems directly from the membership of the union. The by-laws are revisited and voted on every two years, and every local has representation on the PEOPLE Committee.

Neither he nor any other staff members of the union cast votes, and any member is welcome to attend the committee meetings. Plus, he said, the current composition reflects a change to just city representation — from a previous time when it also had state and county representatives — to ensure the workers most directly affected made the decision.

“I don’t know of any organization that has a member-driven process as open as AFSCME does,” he said. “It’s democratic and well thought-out. We understand that some endorsements are controversial and respect the right of individuals to support who they do. But I have an obligation to ensure there’s a clean, open process and that in the end we represent the official union perspective.”

Bundy added that he’s confident that the endorsement of Chavez reflects the official outcome of that process.

When asked why he and other union members aren’t happy about the Chavez endorsement, Sanchez said first that he doesn’t understand how AFSCME could endorse a candidate who hasn’t yet said he’s running.

“I do not understand how AFSCME endorsed a candidate that hasn’t publicly announced his candidacy,” he said. “Can you imagine endorsing Obama for 2012 when he hasn’t announced yet?”

Sanchez also said that the vote on Thursday isn’t meant to be an attack on the mayor, but he believes many of the local members think the mayor favors other unions at their expense.

“The fire and police get a big raise every year, but the blue-collar are the backbone of the city, the ones sweating and doing the hard work of the city. I know the work of the fire and police is important, but the money needs to be given out fairly.”

UPDATE: Carter Bundy sent a note to clarify the extent to which Local 624 was polled:

“The member poll contacted every member in the City of Albuquerque for whom we had a good phone number, and the questions were asked of members who were registered to vote and either certain to vote in the municipal elections or very likely to vote in the municipal elections,” he said.