NMHU unions: University president failed to act after chemical cleanup complaint
Oct. 17—New Mexico Highlands University administrators haven't done enough to ensure faculty, staff and students are safe after a hazardous chemical release in the university's science building, union officials say — and time to fix the problem has run out.
On Oct. 1, faculty and staff union heads submitted a grievance to Highlands President Neil Woolf, arguing the university failed to remediate unsafe chemical storage, cleanup and disposal practices.
In addition to 17 other remedies, Kathy Jenkins and Andrea Crespin — the presidents of NMHU's faculty and staff unions, respectively — demanded in the grievance that three facilities officials at the university be placed on paid administrative leave pending the resolution of all investigations into the matter.
Per the latest version of the faculty union's collective bargaining agreement, Woolf or his representative must schedule a hearing on the grievance within 10 working days of receipt. This hasn't happened, and the clock ran out earlier this week, said Mary Parr-Sánchez, president of the New Mexico affiliate of the National Education Association, which represents Highlands workers in tandem with the American Federation of Teachers-New Mexico. The lack of response, she said, is "not acceptable."
In an email to The New Mexican, David Lepre, Highlands' vice president of marketing, communications and government relations, declined to comment on the grievance, calling it a "personnel issue."
"It's a violation of law for the university to comment publicly on personnel matters," Lepre wrote.
The grievance comes amid an investigation into chemical storage and handling at the Las Vegas, N.M., school following the Sept. 14 death of custodian Martin Lujan, 54.
Whether Lujan's death is related to chemical exposure while working in NMHU's Ivan Hilton Science and Technology Building remains unknown. His cause of death will be determined by the state Office of the Medical Investigator, which is conducting an autopsy and toxicology tests.
The building itself will remain closed through the end of the semester while the leak "has been contained and is being mitigated," Woolf announced in an all-campus email earlier this month.
Nevertheless, Parr-Sánchez said, "We want to make sure that everything possible is being done to make sure that, at a point in the future, what is happening and what has happened at the university never happens again."
Jenkins and Crespin's grievance accuses university administration of violating an pertaining to "safe working conditions" in the faculty union's collective bargaining agreement.
The agreement requires faculty members to report violations of institutional safety rules. Then, it states, "an appropriate administrator ... will promptly investigate such conditions and, if appropriate, remediate in a timely manner."
The "crux" of the grievance, Parr-Sánchez said: Faculty members reported the issue to Associate Vice President for Facilities, Planning, Maintenance and Management Sylvia Baca; Environmental Health and Safety Manager Lee Martinez; and Custodial Manager Freddie Martinez.
The union claims all three failed to investigate or remediate the issue; the grievance calls for them to be placed on administrative leave pending conclusion of all investigations into the matter.
"The people that are being accused of negligence do not need to be right in the mix of the investigation," Parr-Sánchez said.
Baca, Lee Martinez and Freddie Martinez did not return calls requesting comment Thursday.
The grievance also demands the college fix or install additional safety equipment; update chemical storage and disposal procedures; and create communications and management plans for future emergency incidents.
"We believe the primary responsibility of NMHU is to provide a safe and healthy environment for students, faculty, staff, and members of the community," Jenkins and Crespin wrote in the grievance. "Students can't learn and faculty can't teach, when they don't feel safe and are fearful."
With Woolf out of time to respond to the grievance, the next step in the resolution process is binding arbitration, according to the faculty union's collective bargaining agreement.
Arbitration isn't Parr-Sánchez's preferred method of solving the problem. It's a costly and time-consuming process, she said, and she'd rather the university and its staff come to the table to discuss a common interest: the safety of staff and students.
"We would like to come in as equal partners to talk about what needs to happen moving forward," Parr-Sánchez said.
She added, "The president, it is in his best interest to engage in a timely conversation with his employees, as represented by their unions. He should be willing to do that, and I don't understand why he's not."
