Yesterday, 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 (NFFE). Nearly 65% of the bargaining unit turned out to vote yesterday, a very high turnout for a union election.
“Yesterday’s victory could not have happened without the hard work and cooperation of many of our union brothers and sisters,” said NFFE 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.”
Just one day after the victory at the polls, 26 HRM employees have already joined on as dues paying members. This victory was the result of a lengthy and hard-fought battle to secure representation for approximately 385 employees in the department.
The process began in the spring of 2008, when NFFE began collecting signatures from HRM employees who were interested in union representation. NFFE faced a number of hurdles over the next several months, but eventually was able to finalize a bargaining unit of approximately 385 people last November.
HRM employees in Albuquerque will now be covered by the Master Agreement negotiated by the NFFE Forest Service Council.
Thanks 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 Local 2197 for all of their hard work in this campaign.