Article 26: Union Rights

26.1

The following rights shall be granted exclusively to the Union and shall not be granted to any other labor organization.

26.2

The College shall provide the Union payroll deduction for membership dues for employees who authorize the deductions in the amount designated by the Union. The deductions shall be made provided the deduction request is submitted to the College's payroll office on a form authorized by the Union. The deductions shall be made from employee paychecks for each pay period. The authorizations may be submitted to the payroll office at any time, and deductions will commence on the following payday. The deductions shall be transmitted to the Union within a reasonable period of time following each pay date at which the deductions were made. Employee authorizations shall be continuous and may be terminated at any time thirty (30) days prior to the deduction termination. The Union shall notify the Payroll Office and the bargaining unit employees of any change in the deduction amounts at least ten (10) days prior to the effective date of the new amount. When a change is implemented, deductions for bargaining unit members who previously granted authorization, will continue at the new rate, unless the employee specifically opts out. The Union agrees to render the College and Governing Board harmless for any action resulting from compliance with this provision.

26.3

The amount of deduction to be made from each employee’s wages will be certified in writing by the Union and shall be a fixed dollar amount per active pay period.  In the event the amount of dues changes, the College shall implement such change within a reasonable time period.  In the event an employee does not work for CNM for a period of time (becomes inactive) and, as a result, does not receive a paycheck, upon rehire dues deduction shall resume at the same amount that was being deducted prior to the time the employee became inactive.

26.4

Employee deductions may be terminated at any time by an employee contacting the College’s payroll office and notifying the Union.

26.5

The Union, its membership and the individual members of the bargaining unit agree to hold the College safe and harmless for any legal action resulting from compliance with the provision for dues deduction.  The Union shall indemnify the College for any legal action regarding this issue.

26.6

The College agrees to allow the Union the right to use email at the College in accordance with Section 10-7E-15 subsection H of the Public Employee Bargaining Act and bulletin boards for the distribution and posting of Union information. Such information will be distributed and/or posted by Union representatives. For email communication utilizing the CNM email system, the Union agrees to provide a copy in advance to CNM’s Labor Relations Officer. Email communication between a Union representative and an individual bargaining unit employee shall be subject to all provisions in this article. Nothing inflammatory, derogatory or disruptive to good labor-management relations shall be contained in any email, written documents, or materials to be distributed and/or posted to include communications with any College student media. Additionally, College resources shall not be used for any union activity or issue, including but not limited to, political issues, a campaign for an individual candidate,  or organization, unless specifically authorized elsewhere in this agreement. In the event the College believes a violation of this provision has occurred it shall be brought to the attention of the Union President and the distribution in question will be halted.

26.7

Local Union representatives who are CNM employees are eligible for extended leave without pay to conduct Union business.  Such leave may be approved if it does not present an undue hardship or expense to the College and subject to the following conditions:

26.7.1

Written notice must be submitted at least fourteen (14) calendar days in advance of the time of the requested leave.

26.7.2

The Union representative shall suffer no loss of seniority.

26.7.3

The Union  representative shall be eligible to continue group benefits as contained in this Agreement, provided he/she pays both the employee’s and the College’s portion of the premium cost.

26.7.4

The Union representative shall be eligible for course assignment in accordance with the provisions of this Agreement.

26.8

The Union or any employee may not solicit membership while the employees are on duty.

26.9

The Union shall be allowed to use meeting areas in College buildings at no cost to the Union provided advanced scheduling has been made with the College and provided the meetings do not conflict with scheduled events or the College’s facilities policy. Attendance at these meetings shall not occur during duty time.

26.10

The Union shall have the right to identify worksite representative for each College campus where bargaining unit employees are present. The College shall recognize these representatives as Union leaders at the worksites. The Union President shall inform the College’s Labor Relations Officer in writing of the names of the Union representatives and keep such notification current. Someone whose name has not been provided in writing shall not receive recognition as a Union representative.

26.10.1

Worksite representatives may distribute Union materials and conduct Union business so long as this activity is done on non-duty time and does not interfere with the representative’s duty time or the duty time of other employees. Materials distributed will comply with the provisions of section 26.6.

26.10.2

Worksite representatives shall have the right on non-duty time to bring to the attention of the worksite supervisors concerns over the administration of the Agreement and other concerns affecting the bargaining unit employees.

26.11

The College shall provide to the Union, in an editable digital file format agreed to by the Union the following information for each employee of the bargaining unit: (1) a listing of all bargaining unit employees arranged according to hire date. (2) the employee’s name and hire date; (3) contact information, including (a) cellular, home and work telephone; (b) means of electronic communication, including work and personal electronic mail addresses; and (c) home address or personal mailing address; (4) employment information, including the employee’s job title, salary and work location. The College shall provide the information described above to the Union within ten (10) days from the date of hire for newly hired employees in the bargaining unit. The Union shall include in each communication sent to employees an opportunity for an employee to be removed from Union communications.

26.12

The Union will be provided 30 minutes, without loss of leave or pay, to meet with new employees or make a presentation during new employee orientation, at a time determined by the College. The parties agree that this provision does not constitute approval for contravening established policies that govern an employee’s obligation when the employee is also a Union Representative, to provide instructional support to students as scheduled.