01-PELRB-2022, PELRB NO. 127-21

In re: American Federation of Teachers and International Association of Machinists and Areospace Workers, AFL-CIO and UNM Sandoval Regional Medical Center, Inc.

02-PELRB-2022, PELRB NO. 306-21

In re: United Health Profiessionals of New Mexico, AFT, AFL-CIO and UNM Sandoval Regional Medical Center, Inc.

03-PELRB-2022, PELRB NO. 309-21

In re: United Health Profiessionals of New Mexico, AFT, AFL-CIO and UNM Sandoval Regional Medical Center, Inc.

04-PELRB-2022, PELRB NO. 307-20

In re: United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers of America and University of New Mexico

05-PELRB-2022, PELRB NO. 311-21

In re: Classifed School Employees Council-Las Cruces and Las Cruces Public Schools

06-PELRB-2022, PELRB No. 307-20

In re: United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America (UE) and University of New Mexico, Board of Regents

07-PELRB-2022, PELRB No. 317-21

In re: Penasco Federation of United School Employees, AFT-NM Local 4285 and Penasco Independent Schoool District

08-PELRB-2022, PELRB No. 315-21

In re: Amanda Macias and New Mexico Coalition of Public Safety Officers

09-PELRB-2022, PELRB No. 314-21

In re: Tierra Encantada Charter School-NEA and Tierra Encantada Charter School

10-PELRB-2022, PELRB No. 301-22

In re: Victoria Gurule and American Federation of State, County And Municipal Employees, Council 18

11-PELRB-2022, PELRB No. 302-22

In re: Alma Linan Rodriguez and Tierra Encantada Charter School-NEA

12-PELRB-2022, PELRB No. 313-21

In re: United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America and New Mexico State University Board of Regents

NMSU objected to a Card Check  conducted on March 17, 2022 pursuant to Section 10-7E-14(C) of the PEBA. NMSU’s objections are summarized as follows: (1) the Board did not adopt rules governing the administration of card check proceedings before conducting the card check related to the Petition; (2) the Board did not use an updated bargaining unit list for the card check proceedings; (3) the misspelled printed names on the challenged authorization cards raised concerns about fraud in the card check proceedings; (4) the Card Check Agreement was violated because (a) an administrative assistant conducted the card count along with the Executive Director and (b) the Union had two observers physically present during the card count; (5) the authorization cards were not “sufficiently current” under the Board’s rules; and (6) the Board’s form used to record the results of the card check is misleading because it is titled “Results of Card Check in Lieu of Election” and states that the “above [tally] is a true statement of the election returns” (emphasis added). 

After reviewing the Director’s Report on Objections to Card Check issued on April 18, 2022, the Results of the Card Check, and the pleadings in this matter, hearing oral argument from the parties, and being otherwise sufficiently advised, the Board concluded: 

a. The Board has jurisdiction over the parties and the subject matter in these proceedings.

b. Section 10-7E-14(C) of PEBA provides: “As an alternative to the provisions of Subsection A of this section, a labor organization with a reasonable basis for claiming to represent a majority of the employees in an appropriate bargaining unit may submit authorization cards from a majority of the employees in an appropriate bargaining unit to the board or local board, which shall, upon verification that a majority of the employees in the appropriate bargaining unit have signed valid authorization cards, certify the labor organization as the exclusive representative of all public employees in the appropriate bargaining unit. The employer may challenge the verification of the board or local board; the board or local board shall hold a fact-finding hearing on the challenge to confirm that a majority of the employees in the appropriate bargaining unit have signed valid authorization cards.” 

c. The March 17, 2022 card check was conducted under and in accordance with Section 10-7E-14(C). 

d. As the Board previously decided in In re: United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America and University of New Mexico (“UE v. UNM”), PELRB No. 307-20 (Jan. 27, 2022), 4-PELRB-2022, the Board’s statutory obligation to hold a fact-finding hearing on an employer’s challenge to the Board’s verification under Section 10-7E-14(C) is self-executing and does not require or depend on the adoption of procedural rules. For the same reasons discussed in that decision, the lack of rules for the conduct of a card check did not render the card check related to the Union’s Petition invalid. 

e. The Board also decided in UE v. UNM that PEBA does not require the Board to use an updated bargaining unit list when conducting a card check proceeding. Section 10-7E-14(C) allows labor organization to submit authorization cards from a majority of employees in the proposed bargaining unit with its representation petition. The Board then verifies “that a majority of the employees in the bargaining unit have signed valid authorization cards,” and, if so, certifies the labor organization as the exclusive representative. The Board’s verification is based on the authorization cards submitted with the petition, which means the Board necessarily relies on the list of employees in the bargaining unit at the time the petition is filed. As stated in the Board’s decision in UE v. UNM, “the purpose of a card check is to test majority support as of the time a petition is submitted” (quoting from the Director’s Report in UE v. NMSU on objections to the card check). 

f. The misspelled printed names on the authorization cards do not, by themselves, indicate fraud. The cards were challenged based on the misspellings and properly removed from the count. No showing was made that the challenged cards affected the validity of the remaining cards included in the count. 

g. NMSU’s objections related to alleged violations of the Card Check Agreement are without merit. The Agreement did not preclude the Executive Director from having a staff member under his supervision assist in conducting the card check. The Agreement’s provisions governing observers is based on the Board’s rules for observers during ballot counts, which specify that “observers shall not be … labor organization employees” and allow “representatives of the parties in addition to the observers to observe the counting of ballots.” 11.21.2.29 NMAC. Under these rules, the Union had only one eligible observer, Mr. Montalbano, who was physically present at the card check and signed the card check results. NMSU did not show what effect, if any, the alleged violations of the Card Check Agreement had on the validity of the authorization cards or the card check process. 

h. NMSU’s objection related to whether the authorization cards are “sufficiently current” is premised on the submission of the cards ten months before the card check was conducted. However, as with the list of eligible employees discussed above, the time for determining whether an authorization card is “sufficiently current” is when the representation petition is filed, not at the time of the card check proceedings. See 11.21.2.13(A) NMAC (requiring the Director to investigate the petition within 30 days of filing, including whether the signatures on the showing of interest (in the form of cards or a petition) “are sufficiently current”). NMSU does not claim that the authorization cards were insufficiently current when the Union submitted the Petition to the NMSU Labor Management Relations Board. Because the cards presumably were “sufficiently current” when the NMSU Labor Management Relations Board reviewed the Petition, there are no grounds for the objection. 

i. NMSU’s contention that the title of the Board’s form used to record the results of the card check and references in the form to “election returns” are misleading has no merit. No evidence was presented that parties and other persons participating in the card check were confused or misled by the challenged language on the form or that it affected the validity of the authorization cards or card check proceedings. 

j. A majority of the employees in the appropriate bargaining unit have signed valid authorization cards, as evidenced by the Results of the Card Check in Lieu of Election dated March 17, 2022.

The Board, therefore, dismissed  NMSU’s objections to the results of the March 17, 2022 card check and directed its staff to issue a Certification of Exclusive Representation. 

13-PELRB-2022, PELRB No. 133-21

In re: N. M. Coalition of Public Safety Officers and Santa Fe County Deputy Sheriff’s Ass’n v. Santa Fe County

14-PELRB-2022, PELRB 305-22

In re: Penasco Federation of United School Employees, AFT – NM Local 4285 and Penasco Independent School District

15-PELRB-2022, PELRB 306-22

In re: Santa Fe County Firefighters Association and Santa fe County

16-PELRB-2022, PELRB 303-22

In re: International Associate of Machinists & Areospace Workers and UNM Sandoval Regional Medical Center

17-PELRB-2022, PELRB 309-22

In re: Rio Rancho School Employees Union and Rio Rancho Public School District

18-PELRB-2022, PELRB 106-22

In re: AFSCME, Local 3022 and Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority

19-PELRB-2022, PELRB 310-22

In re: United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America and New Mexico State University

20-PELRB-2022, PELRB 308-22

In re: District 1099NM, National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees and University of New Mexico Hospitals

21-PELRB-2022, PELRB 303-22

In re: International Union of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW), AFL-CIO and University of New Mexico Sandoval Regional Medical Center

22-PELRB-2022, PELRB No. 307-22

In re: Town of Bernalillo Professional Firefighters Ass’n – IAFF and Town of Bernalillo

23-PELRB-2022

In re: Open Meeting Notice Resolution

24-PELRB-2022, PELRB No. 303-22

In re: International Union of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW), AFL-CIO and University of New Mexico Sandoval Regional Medical Center

25-PELRB-2022, PELRB No. 114-22

In re: American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Council 18, AFL-CIO, Local 3022, and Albuquerque-Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority

26-PELRB-2022, PELRB No. 304-22

In re: United Health Professionals of New Mexico, AFT, AFL-CIO and University of New Mexico Sandoval Regional Medical Center

On December 1, 2022 this Board issued its Order 26-PELRB-2022, in which it adopted, its Hearing Officer’s recommended decision that House Supervisors and Charge Nurses are not excluded from coverage under the PEBA and are appropriate for inclusion in the bargaining unit, but reversed, that decision with respect to the Hearing Officer’s conclusion that “SRMC employees employed on a per diem or ‘PRN’ basis are not ‘regular’ employees” for the purposes of the PEBA. The Board remanded the case to the Hearing Officer for the purpose of determining whether the PRNs share a community of interest with others in the petitioned-for unit so that their inclusion in the unit would not render it inappropriate. See NMSA 1978 § 10-7E-13 (2020) re: Appropriate bargaining units.

On January 13, 2023 the Board’s Hearing Officer issued his Report and Recommended Decision Concerning Designation of An Appropriate Bargaining Unit, concluding that PRNs in the proposed unit shared a community of interest with others in the unit so that their inclusion would not render the unit inappropriate. The Executive Director then conducted a card check and determined that there was a sufficient showing of interest to establish majority support for United Health Professionals of New Mexico, AFT-AFL-CIO as the exclusive representative for collective bargaining. Therefore,  a Certification of Representation was issued on January 19, 2023. SRMC filed a Motion to Strike the card check results as premature and invalid, and requested to remove approval of the card check results from the Board’s February 7, 2023 agenda. The Board denied the request to remove the matter from its agenda, considered the Motion to Strike and rendered two Orders: 

a. 8-PELRB-2023, by which the Board affirmed found that the Executive Director resolved all questions concerning representation and his designation of the appropriate bargaining unit as including PRN or Per Diem positions was affirmed; and,

b. 9-PELRB-2023, by which, the Board denied UNM SRMC’ Motion to strike card check results as premature and invalid and its request to remove review of the card check results as without merit. Because there was no timely filed objection to the card check results pursuant to NMAC 11.21.2.34 and the Executive Director’s card check was not premature nor invalid, the PELRB ratified and affirmed the Executive Director’s Card Check Results Report issued January 19, 2023 and the Certification of Representation resulting from it.

As of this writing, the time for seeking Judicial review pursuant to SCRA 1-074, has not yet passed, so that the file remains open until appellate review is completed or waived. 

27-PELRB-2022, PELRB No. 104-22

In re: McKinley County Federation of United School Employees Local 3313, AFT-NM and Gallup-McKinley County Public Schools

28-PELRB-2022, PELRB No. 111-22

In re: United Health Professionals of New Mexico, AFT, AFL-CIO and University of New Mexico Sandoval Regional Medical Center

29-PELRB-2022, PELRB No. 112-22

In re: American Federation of Teachers and International Union of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW), AFL-CIO and University of New Mexico Sandoval Regional Medical Center

UNM SRMC appealed to the Board from the Hearing Officer’s Report and Recommended Decision dated September 28, 2022 concluding that that SRMC violated NMSA 1978 § 10-7E-5(A)(2020), which guarantees public employees’ rights to form, join or assist a labor organization for the purpose of collective bargaining through representatives chosen by them without interference, restraint or coercion; NMSA 1978 § 10-7E-5(B)(2020), which guarantees public employees’ rights to engage in concerted activities for mutual aid or benefit, and NMSA 1978 § 10-7E-14(A) requiring a public employer to provide the labor organization within ten business days the names, job titles, work locations, home addresses, personal email addresses and home or cellular telephone numbers of any public employee in the proposed bargaining unit. Inasmuch as NMSA 1978 § 10-7E-5(19)(G) (2020) makes it a prohibited practice to “refuse or fail to comply with a provision of the Public Employee Bargaining Act or board rule” the Hearing Officer further concluded that the UNM SRMC violated PEBA by declining to provide the Union with the list of bargaining unit employees in the proposed unit in PELRB Case No. 303-22, along with their contact information.

The Board adopted the Recommended Decision and findings therein and ordered Respondent to cease and desist from violating the PEBA as therein, acknowledge the violations found therein by posting notice to its employees of the violations in a manner by which its employees customarily receive notice from Respondent. 

30-PELRB-2022, PELRB No. 108-22

In re: American Federation of Teachers and International Union of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW), AFL-CIO and University of New Mexico Sandoval Regional Medical Center