Mayor looks to improve union ties
Grievances have caused animosity, which Webber in part blames on pandemic; settlement may be near in one case
If you ask Gil Martinez his thoughts on the relationship between Mayor Alan Webber’s administration and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3999, he responds with one word: “Sour.”
If you ask the mayor, he provides far more than one — most of them accentuating his hopes to mend a pairing he acknowledges has been on the rocks.
The bad feelings, played out amid the backdrop of grievance hearings and a looming mayoral campaign, have been on full display in the past year — sometimes extending past policy and into personalities.
Since becoming vice president of the local union that represents hundreds of city employees, Martinez acknowledges his group has battled often with the city, resulting in multiple grievances that have pitted city leadership against some of its rank-andfile workers.
The grievances, if not settled, eventually could elevate to the state Public Employees Labor Relations Board for mediation, Martinez said.
Over the past year, two cases have progressed to that level — one related to employee furloughs in April 2020 and another over a disagreement on contracted work sought by the city.
Martinez said it’s likely more cases will reach the state labor board.
The furlough issue, which was found in favor of the union, is still in negotiations over back pay. A settlement in the second case is likely to be brought forward Tuesday in front of a labor board hearing officer.
Webber said the city is actively trying to reach an agreement to settle the furlough case.
“I think we have an offer on the table, and we will see how that works out,” he said. “We are trying to get to a yes.”
But the tensions may go deeper than the typical tug of war between City Hall and the union.
Earlier this month, Webber’s reelection campaign identified a cartoon drawn by Martinez and circulated by the union that claimed the city intends to stop paying its share of employees’ life insurance benefits. The cartoon depicted a man that bears a likeness to Webber, with a cartoonishly long nose quivering in a chair in front of a computer.
Webber’s campaign slammed the cartoon as anti-Semitic for using what it said was a demeaning characterizations of Jews. Martinez, a graphic designer for the city, said the image was not of Webber and was meant to depict a random employee.
He added he had no idea the cartoon could be construed to denigrate Jewish people and that the mayor politicized the cartoon.
“We must reject this kind of divisive ugliness,” Webber wrote after the cartoon became public. “I know Santa
Feans join me in standing against hate here and across our country.”
Martinez, who has been vice president of the union for about a year and a half, contends the relationship between the city and the union has deteriorated after he and union President Gilbert Baca took the reins of Local 3999. He added the new leaders pushed back against what they felt was mistreatment that had been tolerated by previous union management.
“That is why you are hearing about it so much now,” Martinez said. “The [union] administration before didn’t stand our ground. We are standing our ground.”
In August, about 240 AFSCME members issued a vote of no confidence in the mayor, with just 12 voting in Webber’s favor. The union outlined a list of complaints, including issues related to the furloughs, which union representatives said greatly affected workers on the bottom rung of the pay ladder.
In an interview Friday, Webber said the tensions between the union and city were apparent, but added he has worked to improve the relationship. He said the coronavirus pandemic has played a role in the problems, though he hoped to return to a more “constructive” relationship.
“I have always been committed to a good working relationship with unions because I am a union guy,” Webber said. “We need to lower the temperature and work to help support our employees. When they are supported, they provide good services of the people of the city.”
City Councilor JoAnne Vigil Coppler, who is running against Webber in the November election and has a background in human resources and labor management, said the labor board cases created a “strain” on the relationship between the city and the union, culminating in a complete “breakdown in trust.”
“Trust is earned,” Vigil Coppler said. “I don’t believe with the election coming up there is enough time to earn any trust. Trust takes a long time of changed behavior.”
Webber said the proposed 4 percent pay increases for collective bargaining units like AFSCME in the 2022 fiscal year budget was a step in the right direction, acknowledging union members were financially affected by the pandemic.
The budget also recommends a $2.3 million increase for health insurance costs, fully funded from reserves, without an increase to employee rates.
“I think as we come out of this period of really hard times for everybody … we will get onto a better working relationship and more productive and unified,” Webber said. “Not just with AFSCME but with all of our city employees and everyone in our community.”
But Martinez remains wary. He said he felt the proposal for pay increases is a push for Webber to score points prior to the November election.
“They did it because it is an election year,” Martinez said. “They never offer this kind of money, ever.”
In response to claims that the city has balked at providing pay increases, city officials provided data on compensation. Since 2005, the city said it has provided 16 pay bumps, identifying four that came after Webber took office.
Webber said he has had conversations with AFSCME Council 18 President Connie Derr over the past few months over how to soften the rhetoric between the two bodies. Council 18 is the umbrella organization for local unions around the state.
“I think it’s an ongoing process of more listening and lowering the voices as we engage with each other,” Webber said.
But Martinez said while the union is not trying to be antagonistic, he does not see an easy way to mend fences with the city.
“If you ask now what we can do, I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t know if this is the staff we can do it with.”