Question: I received a raise with my July 18, 2008 paycheck, but it was smaller than I expected. What happened?

Answer:
You are not alone in your frustration. During the 2008 New Mexico Legislative session, our State representatives passed HB 2 and SB 165 to provide for an average 4 percent at midpoint increase in compensation for the State's workers. In March the State Personnel Office (SPO) claimed there was insufficient funding for the Contract language in the two bills and proposed a ONE percent at midpoint increase along with the compa-ratio increases (see Article 27, p.41). With rising food, gas and medical costs, this constituted a "slap in the face" to workers.

Your union representatives rejected SPO's proposal. In violation of the Contract, SPO implemented a 2.9 percent at midpoint increase. Yet this is still unacceptable -- don't you agree?

In an effort to prevent SPO from squeezing New Mexico workers, the SEA-CWA and AFSCME (our sister union) filed a joint Prohibited Practices Complaint against the State of New Mexico for bargaining in bad faith over the wage increase. We hope to hear in August about the status of this matter.

Try our Raise Comparison Calculator (top).
Simply enter your current Pay Band as well as your hourly wage from June 2008 (before the July raise) and we'll show you how your raise worked out. If you don't have your information at hand and would like to try the Raise Comparison, enter 50 for the Pay Band and $14.19 for the June wage (an actual position).