We are just over five weeks away from the start of the 2010 legislative session, which will largely determine the fate of thousands of New Mexico public employees.

Despite the incredibly negative economy and how hard our fight is, there's one message I want you to take to your families and co-workers this Christmas and holiday season:  You and your fellow union members have been--excuse the mild profanity--kicking a** for the working class.  Or middle class, or whatever you want to call our hard-working members who provide the services that New Mexicans need every day.

It's because of your power, your clout, and your activism that not a single AFSCME member, or other classified employee for that matter, has lost his or her job to layoffs.  It's because you and your union have been pushing so hard for fairness in our budget that we've avoided the kind of tragic crisis that other working families face all across America in the private and public sectors.  

Your co-workers should know how important your and AFSCME's work has been, so please share last week's list of things you and your union are doing with co-workers (email me if you want me to re-send it to you).

It's easy to get praise for being a strong union when times are good.  But there's no more important time for union activism and solidarity than right now, when we need each other to fight for our very livelihoods.

So thank you and mil gracias for everything you do to fight for what you and I know is right.  Here's a quick, simple, and powerful action you can take right now to help lay the foundation for January's legislative session.  Do it this afternoon, or tonight when you get home.

ACTION #1:  Go to www.nmrevenueoptions.com and click on the public comment section.  Let the Budget Balancing Task Force know how thinly stretched your agency is.  You can use real stories of having to turn people away, longer lines, absurd caseloads, anything that conveys the problems that are caused by not having enough revenue to fund the state adequately.  Ask that they raise revenues, because the state simply can't provide the basic services our citizens need without restoring some fiscal balance on the revenue side.  Keep it professional, but be strong about what we're demanding.