Attention Bernalillo County

Brothers and Sisters,

We have reached a Tentative Agreement (TA) with Bernalillo County for a one-year successor agreement. A ratification vote is scheduled for 7 days from today, Friday, August 7th, in accordance with Article II of our Constitution and bylaws. Active members in good standing will be able to cast their vote from 0700 nt0 1900 hours at any of the 3 voting sites. The Union Hall, Station 40 and Station 33 will be the 3 dedicated locations for voting. If you qualify for absentee voting based on Article XI SECTION 3, you must coordinate your absentee vote with the Sergeant At Arms, Brother Aaron Flores. 

The short TA'd version of the contract language will be posted on the website. See the short summary below:

Summary of the Tentative Agreement

• One-year agreement.
• 1% across-the-board wage increase.
• Current contract language remains in place (status quo).
• The County has withdrawn its proposed additions to the Management Rights article and its other proposed contract changes.
• The Certification Courses MOU and the Cannabis Drug Testing MOU negotiated since our last contract, will be incorporated into this successor Collective Bargaining Agreement.

We also want to provide some context as to how we arrived at this agreement.

This year’s negotiations were about far more than wages. Although we believed the County Commission intended to fund an additional 1% wage increase, the County maintained that no additional funding was available while simultaneously proposing significant changes to our Collective Bargaining Agreement, including expanding the Management Rights article.

We believe those proposed changes would have significantly expanded unilateral management authority and reduced the Union’s ability to effectively bargain on behalf of the membership in the future.

The importance of preserving those bargaining rights is not theoretical. Since our last collective bargaining agreement was negotiated, we have successfully negotiated Memorandums of Understanding addressing certification courses and cannabis drug testing. Those agreements directly benefit our members and are now being incorporated into our contract. We are also currently bargaining over the Department’s staffing policy and other policies that affect our members’ working conditions. These are all examples of why preserving the Union’s ability to bargain throughout the life of the agreement—not just during full contract negotiations—was one of the most important issues in this round of bargaining.

Rather than proceeding to interest arbitration over both wages and the County’s proposed contract changes, we reached an agreement that preserves our current contract language, incorporates the negotiated MOUs into the agreement, and secures the additional 1% wage increase.

We also want to be candid with the membership. A 1% wage increase is not an adequate long-term solution to firefighter compensation. Our compensation remains a significant issue, and we will continue pursuing meaningful improvements in future negotiations and through every appropriate avenue available to us.

This agreement resolves the current negotiations, preserves the bargaining rights that have allowed us to improve wages, benefits, and working conditions over the years, and positions us to continue that work moving forward.

Thank you for your patience, trust, and support throughout this process. We encourage every member to review the Tentative Agreement before casting their vote.

In Solidarity,

IAFF Local 244
Bernalillo County Chapter
 

Teddy Ygbuhay
County Chapter, Vice President
Albuquerque Area Firefighters
IAFF Local 244 
505-918-4868