Over six years ago, I returned to my beloved Las Cruces, and joined the efforts to bring dignified wages to workers, by managing the successful campaign to raise the wage to $10.10, and increases to tipped wages. 1/ #nmpol #nmleg

Through that hard won fight, I also bared witness to a small number of businesses--led by NM Restaurant Assoc, who not only intimidated, but also demonized workers, minimized their craft, and divided the community--silencing many who are our family, friends and neighbors. 2/

Now, in midst of global pandemic, those very same players who led efforts to halt any increase in LC min wage, & systemic changes statewide, are same players today—demanding that not only should their bus remain open, but forcing staff & workers to make sinister choices-- 3/

putting food on the table at the risk of dying, or face the consequences of systems designed to fail them. Despite no known plan to increase pay and hazard pay, no plan to provide healthcare, and no promise of a guaranteed income if things get even worse 4/

I am overwhelmed by the responses that I have received from workers, fearful of speaking out at the expense and risk of losing their jobs. Trusting me with the painful stories of fear--that there are no real plans to keep them safe, 5/

and the retaliation they will face if they speak up. Some of you are not happy with my actions and being so vocal about this issue, but a lot of you are. That’s because as Las Crucens, we don’t put our friends, family, and neighbors in harm's way. 6/

We fight for them. I am fighting for the lives of the community that I love, in the state that I love, by making serious demands--that no amount of money in the world is worth the lives we will lose--because of the callous irresponsibility of a few-- 7/

the New Mexico Restaurant Association, who didn’t fight for you six years ago, and certainly isn’t fighting for you today. 8/

There are plenty of small businesses in this community--whose health and safety and treatment of their workers, is just as much a priority as their bottomline, and they deserve our utmost support. 9/end