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County commissioners approved a new bargaining agreement with Bernalillo County blue collar union employees on Tuesday, giving them a 10% base pay increase.
The agreement will go into effect at the start of the fiscal year in July.
The wages ensure Bernalillo County is competitive with other employers, Human Resources Director Bernadette Perez told commissioners. With the new contract, the lowest base pay for positions such as custodian and cook will go from $16 to $17.60, and the highest base pay for Metropolitan Detention Center second-level electronic security technicians will go from $31.88 to $35.07.
The county has 224 employees covered by the contract, according to county spokeswoman Melissa Smith. The union members do professional trade jobs, and skilled and manual labor. Members work in a broad range of jobs, including as mechanics, on maintenance, in transfer stations, as custodians and operating snowplows.
The new agreement with AFSCME Council 18, Local 1461, is the third union agreement with county employees approved recently by the commission.
In May, the commission approved bargaining agreements with Metropolitan Detention Center employees and Bernalillo County Sheriff’s deputies that also included 10% pay increases.
Over half of the county’s 2,600 employees are part of a union.
