NM gov fires entire Labor Board

Santa Fe rally, Feb. 26, 2011

New Mexico hasn't been on our War on Workers radar screen much. We did notice that thousands of union supporters held an energetic rally in Santa Fe on Feb. 26, the day of protest in every U.S. state capital.

But now we find New Mexico's new governor is a Koch whore Scott Walker Republican. According to Reuters, Gov. Suzana Martinez fired every single member of the state Labor Relations Board and forced out the executive director. That leaves no one to enforce the state’s Public Employee Bargaining Act.

Unions took her to court. Today Reuters reports:

New Mexico's governor broke the law by firing all members of the state's Labor Relations Board and unions seek to reverse the move by an appeal to the state Supreme Court, a union leader said on Thursday.

New Mexico AFL-CIO president Christine Trujillo said she was "very, very concerned" with Governor Susana Martinez's efforts to dismantle organized labor in the state.

"She's trying to destroy all the efforts that we have made over the past ten years," Trujillo said. "We feel like she's been in the same workshop as every other Republican governor to undo collective bargaining."

Just lovely.