Santa Fe Blossoms Into Model Community for Workers’ Rights

Imagine a city where a public works director bargains a first contract with city employees that — at his insistence — not only gives them fair pay and benefits but also strengthens the union itself.

It happened in Santa Fe, N.M., and today that same manager is mayor, elected in March by more than 50 percent of voters in a four-person race.

Now Mayor David Coss, the past president of  CWA Local 7037, is looking for managers who respect unions as much as he does. "It's good for the city and it's good for government," he said. "You can just manage better if you have a strong union to work with."

Coss would be an anomaly almost anywhere else but Santa Fe is turning out to be a model city for workers' and union rights.

The state capitol of New Mexico is home to Gov. Bill Richardson, elected in 2002 largely with the help of the State Employee Alliance-CWA, now Local 7076. The pro-worker governor kept his promise and restored bargaining rights for state workers that a previous administration allowed to lapse in 1999.

Santa Fe also boasts the highest living wage in the country, $9.50 an hour, and has what Coss says is the country's strongest affordable housing requirements.

But it hasn't happened by accident. Local 7076 President Robin Gould — who says she learned "everything I know about CWA and the labor movement" from Coss — said the victories have demanded the same hard work, community education and networking essential to grassroots campaigns anywhere.

"In Santa Fe, we're very liberal, but 'liberal' doesn't necessarily equate to labor-friendly," Gould said. "We've had to do a huge campaign demystifying what labor unions are all about."

The various community efforts build on each other. As labor and social justice activists worked to raise the living wage and campaigned for John Kerry, union members met other community leaders and they've continued to join forces. Gould said one way the union has strengthened the bonds is by offering the local's hall for other groups' meetings.

Noting a recent e-mail from a member questioning why the local is involved in politics, Gould said there's simply no other way to effectively represent people because so many rights depend not on contracts but on law.

"Not all issues can be resolved through bargaining," Gould said. "Many of the issues that affect state workers here have to do with politics, and the only way to do that is with political clout."

In New Mexico, state workers bargain raises but the legislature has to approve them. Last year, the legislature didn't, leaving both the 3,000-member SEA-CWA and the 6,000 AFSCME members angry with lawmakers and frustrated with their unions, Gould said.

"We had to go off and lick our wounds and figure out what we were going to do differently," she said. "This year, we went back and we were successful. We had a better presence, a more organized presence. And we really had the governor's commitment."

Gould said the union will be working harder in the future to elect pro-worker lawmakers, with Coss as their ideal.

"Out of all the politicians we've backed, he's the only one who's ever stood up in every kind of crowd and the first thing that comes out of his mouth is about labor and his union background. He never shies from it," she said.

Coss' parents were teachers, with his dad elected the local National Education Association president and his mother serving on the NEA board. His union roots led him to organize his CWA local after joining the University of New Mexico as an environmental scientist.

Coss later went on to be Santa Fe's public works director and its union-friendly city manager. Four years ago, he was elected to the city council and now has moved into the mayor's office. Labor was key to his victory but he says he also had some backing from business.

"Some of the businesspeople who were helping with my campaign were kind of amazed at themselves to be supporting a labor candidate," he said. "But I always tell people, 'Union people want a strong economy just as much as businesspeople do.'"