SANTA FE, N.M. – A labor leader says New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez has declared “war” on public employee unions by proposing to end the practice of having union dues automatically deducted from state employees’ paychecks.

The Republican governor – who is up for re-election in November – wants to eliminate automatic dues deduction clauses from the state’s labor contracts with the New Mexico affiliates of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Workers (AFSCME) and the Communication Workers of America (CWA) union, the Albuquerque Journal reports.

The unions, of course, are refusing to eliminate the contract language, and contract talks have subsequently broken down. AFSCME and CWA represent an estimated 11,000 state employees.

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“We’re at an impasse with the current (contract negotiations) because I don’t want to take checks out of the payroll and do their job so they can attack us,” Martinez told a group of business leaders on Monday.

AFSCME spokesman Miles Conway told the Albuquerque Journal that the governor’s action is a “declaration of war.”

“There’s no question (Martinez) is coming to cut the unions off at the knees, but we didn’t know she was going for the head,” Conway said.

Conway has it backwards. Martinez’s actions aren’t a declaration of war; they’re merely an acknowledgment of the war that labor unions have been waging on Republicans and conservatives for decades.

Years ago, Big Labor leaders decided to become intensely political and to go “all in” with the Democratic Party. And they chose to use millions of dollars of member dues money every election cycle to fund their attacks on Republicans. That was their prerogative.

But for labor leaders to now act surprised that their political targets are finally pushing back is just hypocritical nonsense.

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The fact is that New Mexico Republicans are simply refusing to let their political opponents use tax dollars to subsidize their operations. The unions call that “war.” We call it common sense.

According to AFSCME’s Conway, if the state succeeds in getting automatic dues collection privileges stripped out of the labor contracts, it will cause a real hardship for the labor unions.

“To shut that off and say you now have to go and knock on 11,000 doors every two weeks to collect dues, that would be a supreme departure from the norm,” Conway told the news site.

Actually, that would be a “supreme” test of the employees’ support for their labor union. If state employees truly care about their unions, they will eagerly send their dues contributions every pay period. They wouldn’t want someone else to do it for them.

The fact that Conway thinks state employees might not mail a check every couple of weeks indicates the labor groups aren’t representing their members very well.

That sounds to us like Big Labor leaders should look in the mirror if they want to see who their real enemy is.

The Albuquerque Journal reports that Republican lawmakers have tried to amend state law so automatic dues deductions are no longer permissible. Those efforts have been blocked by Democrats.

Martinez’s effort to change the labor contracts instead of state law seems more doable. The final decision about the matter, however, will probably be made by the arbitrator who will be tasked with settling the contract stalemate between the state and AFSCME and CWA, the Journal reports.