New Mexico Forest Service Workers Vote NFFE-IAM

More than 250 employees in the U.S. Forest Service Human Resources Management (HRM) department in Albuquerque, NM voted in favor of representation by the National Federation of Federal Employees-IAM (NFFE-IAM). The vote brings the benefits of collective bargaining and union representation to 385 employees in the public-sector bargaining unit.

“Yesterday’s victory could not have happened without the hard work and cooperation of many of our union brothers and sisters,” said NFFE-IAM National Organizing Director Cassie Kerner. “I am so grateful to everyone who lent a hand on this campaign.  Thanks to everyone’s perseverance, the employees of HRM will now have a much-needed voice in their workplace.”

The organizing campaign began in the spring of 2008, when NFFE-IAM began collecting signatures from HRM employees who were interested in union representation. The effort overcame a number of hurdles over the next several months, but was eventually able to finalize a bargaining unit for voting purposes. HRM employees in Albuquerque will now be covered by the Master Agreement negotiated by the NFFE Forest Service Council.

Special thanks go out to National Business Representative Gary Johanson, Organizing Director Kerner, Forest Service Council President Ron Thatcher, National Vice President Jozef Drozdowski, IAM Organizer Terri Friend and the members of NFFE-IAM Local 2197 for all of their hard work in this campaign.

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