City bus drivers will be represented by a new union

The votes are counted, and after a heated battle, city bus drivers in Albuquerque will have a new union.

AFSCME won by 40 votes Friday night.

Rhetoric between New Mexico Transportation, which used to represent drivers, and AFSCME became very heated in the days prior to the vote.

On Tuesday, Frederick Garcia, the Chairman of the New Mexico Transportation Union, blamed operatives of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees for posting offensive fliers in ABQ Ride’s main bus barn on Yale SE.

The fliers depict the NMTU, which has long represented the bus drivers, George Bush and Osama bin Laden and says that all three have attained power through lies and deception and that their reigns of terror must end.

“We are not terrorists,” Garcia bristled. “We are not related to any terrorist groups. We are bus drivers. These are the tactics of a big union trying to intimidate a smaller union,” he added, referring to AFSCME.

Andrew Padilla, President of AFSCME Council 18, says the organization is not responsible for the flyer. Padilla says his members played by the rules and blames Garcia for the negative tone of the campaign.

“This thing has gotten ugly since Fred Garcia, the chairman, had attacked me,”  Padilla said. “It’s in court now.”

Padilla also claimed that some bus drivers have been fired for supporting AFSCME, but city officials say it doesn’t matter which union represents the 250 drivers.

There is no word on when AFSCME will take over.