I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
The Santa Fe New Mexican’s Kate Nash reported today that American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 18 is seeking back pay for nearly 10,000 state workers.
AFSCME alleges the state has not lived up to their end of a contract while the state says an arbitrator overstepped his authority by ordering the state to pay the employees backpay.
Here’s a bit more detail on the story:
Union members had negotiated a contract with the state that employees would get varying raises starting Jan. 1 of this year, based on salary and subject to satisfactory performance. The agreement was subject to legislative appropriation.
The negotiated amount called for raises ranging from 1 percent to 3.5 percent, depending on a given employee’s “compa-ratio,” or compensation ratio, which is an employee’s salary divided by the midpoint salary of the job’s pay range.
However, the state gave employees a 2.9 percent increase across the board, effective July 1, 2008. The increases were meant to equalize pay between veteran employees and newer hires, union officials have said.
It is not known how much backpay the state would owe the employees.
There is more at the Santa Fe New Mexican story.
