County goes to arbitration with jail, other workers

After agreeing to three extensions to continue negotiations, Doña Ana County has ended talks with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, and the parties now go to arbitration.

The decision came after the union rejected the county’s final offer late Tuesday, minutes before the deadline. The sides have been negotiating for six months.

The union represents the county’s detention center workers, custodians and some roads department employees. This is their first attempt at unionizing, and they’ll now have to start from scratch.

Sheriff’s department employees recently unionized through the Communication Workers of America and worked out an agreement with the county after three months of negotiations.

The county and AFSCME had agreed to most provisions in the proposed contract, including pay raises and other increased benefits, according to a news release from the county. But, according to the release, union negotiators insisted on a “Fair Share” provision. That would have required the county to fire any employees who qualified for union membership but opted not to join.

The county agreed to the provision if AFSCME held an election among those who would be affected and 85 percent agreed to the provision, according to the news release.

The union wanted a different standard, and the two sides could not find a compromise.

“I can’t express the level of my disappointment in this turn of events,” County Manager Brian Haines said in the release. “At the direction of the board, staff negotiated in continued good faith and offered repeated extensions of time to the union to make a decision. The hard-working employees of Doña Ana County will pay the price for this unnecessary delay on the part of the union. All we wanted was for the union to hold an election among their membership, and they refused, which puts us back at square one.”

This is the second current arbitration between a government and union in Doña Ana County. The Las Cruces Public Schools and its educational assistants are currently in arbitration over their contract.