The purpose of the Public Employee Bargaining Act is to guarantee public employees the right to organize and bargain collectively with their employers, to promote harmonious and cooperative relationships between public employers and public employees and to protect the public interest by ensuring, at all times, the orderly operation and functioning of the state and its political subdivisions. History: Laws 2003, ch. 4, § 2 and by Laws 2003, ch. 5, § 2. ANNOTATIONSCompiler's notes. — Laws 2003, ch. 4, § 2 and Laws 2003, ch. 5, § 2 enacted identical new sections of law, effective July 1, 2003. Both were compiled as 10-7E-2 NMSA 1978. Consistency of local ordinance with act's purpose. — City ordinance that allows a public employer to select two members of the three-member local board to adjudicate labor-management disputes does not productively allow employees to collectively bargain, and, as such, violates the purpose of the Public Employee Bargaining Act as stated in Section 10-7E-2 NMSA 1978. City of Deming v. Deming Firefighters Local 4521, 2007-NMCA-069, 141 N.M. 686, 160 P.3d 595.
New Mexico Legal Code