Weeks after the prospect of an agreement appeared to be dead,
The union and county representatives came close to an agreement in August, but a deal seemed to fall apart when the sides failed to reach an agreement on whether to include a “fair-share” clause that would require the county to fire workers who didn’t agree to join the union. At that point, the county announced that arbitration would begin.
The union then dropped the demand for fair share because arbitration would have delayed pay raises for several more months, Ed Misquez, the union negotiator, told the Las Cruces Sun-News.
There are about 220 employees in the union. Negotiations have been ongoing for almost two years.
Misquez told the newspaper the proposed contract includes a 3.6-percent pay raise and a measure that would compensate union members for the value of pay raises they haven’t received since February, when other county employee groups got raises.
Results of the union vote won’t be available until later in the weekend. If the union approves the contract, it will be voted on by commissioners at their meeting on Wednesday.