Welcome to the New Mexico Public Employee Labor Relations Board

The New Mexico Public Employee Bargaining Act (PEBA), (§§ 10-7E-1 through 10-7E-26 NMSA 1978), creates the Public Employee Labor Relations Board (PELRB). The Act reinstates collective bargaining for public employees, which expired in 1999.

• NEW MEXICO STATUTE:
  Public Employee Bargaining Act (PEBA), (10-7E-1 through 10-7E-26 NMSA 1978)
  
  
• PELRB RULES:
  NMAC 11.21.3.1 through 11.21.3.6

May Meeting Notice

PELRB's next Board Meeting will be held at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, May 7, 2013 in the Board's offices at 2929 Coors Blvd. NW, Suite 303 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Meeting Minutes and Agendas

Additional Links

• PELRB Practice Manual (Adobe PDF, 522k)
• Case Statistics and Descriptions
• PELRB Related Decisional Law
• Cases on Appeal
• Helpful Points of Contact:
  • Management Representatives (Microsoft Word, 77k)
  • Labor Representatives (Adobe PDF, 19k)
  • Bargaining Unit Information (Adobe PDF, 21k)

** CLICK HERE FOR PRACTICE ADVISORIES **

What is PEBA?

The Public Employee Bargaining Act is the primary law governing relations between unions and public employers. The statute guarantees the right of employees to organize and to bargain collectively with their employers, or to refrain from all such activity.

What is the PELRB?

The PELRB is the state agency charged with administering PEBA. As such, the PELRB has authority and jurisdiction to enforce the provisions of PEBA and board rules and regulations. This means the PELRB has jurisdiction over all general collective bargaining matters between employee organizations or individual public employees and either state agencies or units of local government that have not established a local labor board pursuant to PEBA. The PELRB also has jurisdiction to ensure that local labor ordinances and resolutions (and in some instances, local labor boards) comply with PEBA.

What does the PELRB do?

The Board's mission is to:

1. guarantee public employees the right to organize and bargain collectively with their employers;
2. promote harmonious and cooperative relationships between public employers and employees; and
3. protect the public interest by assuring the orderly operation and functioning of the state and its political subdivisions.

See PEBA, § 3 (Purpose of Act).

In carrying out this mission, the Board's primary functions are to:

• promulgate rules as needed to perform its duties, including establishing procedures related to the determination of prohibited practice complaints, the approval of local boards, and the processing of petitions concerning representation,
• hold hearings to determine appropriate bargaining units;
• conduct secret ballot elections or other alternative appropriate procedures for determining whether public employees desire union representation;
• approve voluntary recognition agreements;
• certify the bargaining status of incumbent labor organizations;
• certify, decertify, modify, clarify, accrete, and sever bargaining units;
• hold hearings to determine whether a practice prohibited under PEBA has occurred and, if so, issue an appropriate administrative remedy;
• issue temporary injunctive relief or restraining orders prior to a hearing on the merits, if warranted;
• approve local boards, upon submission and consideration of an appropriate application;
• revoke prior approval of local boards upon a determination that the local board no longer meets the requirements of § 10 of PEBA, notice of such finding, and adequate opportunity to cure the deficiency;
• maintain a record of all hearings and proceedings;
• timely issue written decisions related to the foregoing;
• periodically compile, classify, index and publish its decisions;
• educate public employers, public employees and unions as to their rights and responsibilities under PEBA;
• gather information, conduct studies and disseminate information as needed concerning relations between public employers, public employees and bargaining agents; and
• seek judicial enforcement of board orders as needed.

See, e.g., PEBA, § 9, § 10, § 12, § 13, § 14, § 16, § 23(A), and § 24; see also NMAC 11.21.1.15; NMAC 11.21.1.30; NMAC 11.21.2.21; NMAC 11.21.2.22, NMAC 11.21.2.35 through NMAC 11.21.2.39, NMAC 11.21.2.40, NMAC 11.21.3.18, NMAC 11.21.3.19, NMAC 11.21.5.9, NMAC 11.21.5.12, and NMAC 11.21.5.13.