Nebraska state employees union reaches tentative agreement
The largest union representing Nebraska state employees announced last week that its members would vote soon on a tentative agreement with Governor Jim Pillen’s negotiators.
The Nebraska Association of Public Employees, known to many in the state as NAPE/AFSCME, is set to meet and vote on the proposed contract for 2025-2027 starting January 13.
The union has said it won’t release the language of the contract until after its members weigh in. But it highlighted some potential changes.
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In a January 8 post to its more than 8,000 members, union leaders, including executive director Justin Hubly, wrote that they had secured raises of 6.5 percent to 19 percent over the next two years.
They also touted paid maternity leave, higher pay for people who speak multiple languages, better pay for some overnight shifts and more flexibility to donate sick leave to other workers.
The union also highlighted having pushed up the minimum wage of state contractors to $15 an hour, which would help state employees better compete with contracted labor.
Leaders did not, however, discuss any progress or negotiations on the future of remote work for state employees, a decision Pillen has said he would like the administration to retain.
The union and state are in the middle of a court fight over whether it can force the state to bargain with the union over his decision to force state employees back to the office.
Its leaders have said they plan to appeal a July decision by the Commission of Industrial Relations rejecting the union’s push to force Pillen to negotiate the issue and not act unilaterally.
Before they could do so, they needed to wait for the state labor court to decide this month that the union would have to pay the state at least $42,000 in attorney fees from the case.
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