DAILY LOBO new mexico
The Independent Student Voice of UNM since 1895
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November 9, 2012
UNMH staffers protest wages, insurance hikes by Ardee Napolitano news@dailylobo.com
UNMH nurse Lorie MacIver said she makes a mere $3 more per hour than new nurses do at the hospital, even though she has worked there for seven years. UNMH employees rallied to protest cuts on employees’ health benefits and push for higher wages along Lomas Boulevard in front of the hospital Thursday morning. MacIver said that because the hospital has a per-hour rate of $25 for new nurses after they finish their 12-week orientation, experienced nurses are not paid what they deserve. She said she knows fellow nurses who resigned and now earn higher per-hour rate in other hospitals. “One nurse left here and got $9.64 more an hour, and another nurse left and got $6 more, right off the bat, so UNMH is currently not even paying nurses market value for what we do,” she said. “They’re hiring in at a good rate, but once nurses got in, what they don’t understand is (other nurses) will never get a raise exactly. And senior nurses that have been here many years are making less than grads that just came in.” William Browne, administrative director of District 1199 New Mexico, the group that organized the rally, said UNMH expects to
hire 4,000 more recent graduates than other hospitals in Albuquerque in the next year, and that these graduates will earn $25 per hour. He said 12 percent of UNMH employees have already taken jobs at different hospitals and that the number is expected to increase to 16 percent by the end of this year. Browne said UNMH employees are relatively underpaid. As a result, he said his group and hospital employees want to see a 2.7 percent increase in wages this year and for the next two years. He said his group started negotiations with the University in May, but the University would not recognize the group’s request. Browne said the administration could fulfill the request because UNM had $190 million for a new hospital building. “They never said they don’t have the money,” he said. “They just choose not to give it to the employees. That’s a smack in the face for employees.” Browne said the group is also protesting cuts in employees’ health care. He said UNMH proposed that instead of paying 100 percent of health care premiums, it will only pay 80 percent of fulltime employees’ premiums and 60 percent of part-time employees’ premiums. Browne said they oppose UNMH decreasing the amount
Juan Labreche / @labrechemode / Daily Lobo Billy Arujo and 2-year-old Mattie Arujo take a break in the shade from picketing in front of UNMH on Thursday morning. Billy Arujo said that as a former veterinary medicine employee, he received a 10-cent raise every year. “Ten cents is better than the proposed zero-percent raises policy,” he said. UNMH employees protested funding cuts for employee health care premiums and for a 2.7 percent wage increase for the next three years. the hospital pays for premiums because it will be a huge burden for employees to pay the remaining health care expenses. He said that because other hospitals in the city pay employees a lot more than UNMH, keeping employees
underpaid will hurt the quality of the hospital. “Somebody who has been here for eight years gets paid less money than somebody who has eight years of experience anywhere else,” he said. “Those expe-
rienced nurses are leaving to get jobs somewhere else so that they can get that increase in pay that they deserve, and (that) is leaving less experienced nurses here to give the care.”
see Hospital PAGE 3
UNM to host 2014 NCAA track and field finals $27M education cuts loom for NM by Michael Sol Warren sports@dailylobo.com @MSolDub
The elite of collegiate track and field are coming to lay it all on the line in Albuquerque. On Nov. 1, the NCAA announced that UNM would host the 2014 Division I Indoor Track &
Field Championships for the first time ever. The championships will be held in the Albuquerque Convention Center on March 1415, 2014. “We are getting ready to embark on a process that is going to be, quite honestly, nerve-wracking and incredibly tiring,” UNM head track and cross country
coach Joe Franklin said. “But it is going to be a process that we’re thrilled to host.” No stranger to large and important track meets, Franklin said this meet is a chance for UNM to host one of the world’s premier meets. “This is an event that is one of the top events in the world,”
Daily Lobo file photo Senior Thomas Trujillo, center, sprints against the competition in the 60 meters on Jan. 28. UNM will host the 2014 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships for the first time ever.
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Franklin said. “It’s not just a top event in the United States; it rivals the IAAF (International Association of Athletic Federations) world championships. We’re going to be getting news coverage in Seoul, South Korea; in Saudi Arabia; in Russia. That’s what this event brings to our program and the University of New Mexico.” The selection process took about two years, UNM assistant track coach Rich Ceronie said. Ceronie and assistant Athletic Director of Events Michael Haggerty will serve as the two meet directors for the championships. UNM athletic director Paul Krebs said the coaching staff of UNM track and field is a major reason that the championships were awarded to the school. “One of the reasons that this championship is here is Coach Franklin, Coach Ceronie and the respect that people in the track world have for our coaching staff,” Krebs said. The economic impact the championships will have on the city of Albuquerque is a large one. The 3,000 hotel rooms expected to be used for the event will be just the core of the economic benefits, Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry said. “The Albuquerque Convention and Visitors Bureau tell me that this event will have a $1.3 million
see NCAA
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WOMEN’S BASKETBALL Northern Arizona
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Today 7 p.m. The Pit
by Megan Underwood news@dailylobo.com
New Mexico public education will see a $27.3 million slash in its budget starting January of next year. The hit is the result of federal nondefense funding cuts. New Mexico will lose a total of $41 million, thanks to the Budget Control Act that Congress passed in 2011. The act allows for automatic cuts in federal spending, called sequestration cuts, from 2013 to 2021. A large portion of the cutbacks will come from the education sector.
“When are we going to realize that you can’t eat a missile?” ~Marisa Silva GPSA president see Budget PAGE 3
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