LINCOLN — Nebraska’s largest public employees union has approved a new two-year contract with the state, offering salary increases of up to 19% for some of the 8,000 workers covered by the agreement. The Nebraska Association of Public Employees (NAPE) announced Monday that the contract, which includes a $15 minimum wage for contract work and six weeks of paid maternity leave, was ratified through a two-week voting period that ended last Friday.
The agreement, set to take effect on July 1, follows four months of negotiations. According to NAPE, the contract includes salary increases ranging from 6.5% to 19%, based on job classifications and satisfactory performance evaluations. The contract also introduces benefits such as multilingual premium pay, increased overnight and weekend pay for Nebraska Department of Transportation (NDOT) and State Patrol employees, and premium pay for NDOT workers with commercial driver’s licenses.
NAPE Executive Director Justin Hubly emphasized the importance of these measures to attract and retain state employees amid high vacancy rates. “This agreement is a step in the right direction,” Hubly said, highlighting the collaboration with Governor Jim Pillen’s team. The contract also allows state employees to donate sick or vacation days to colleagues experiencing catastrophic illness, a significant improvement for employees in smaller state departments.
However, the contract does not address work-from-home protections. This issue has been the subject of a legal dispute between NAPE and Governor Pillen’s administration since a 2023 executive order ended remote and hybrid work for most state employees. The union may appeal a July decision by the Commission of Industrial Relations, which dismissed its bid to force the state to negotiate remote work policies.
The public conflict over remote work has contributed to NAPE’s growing membership. The union, which represents workers in over 500 job classifications across all 93 counties, has grown from 2,100 dues-paying members in early 2023 to over 3,300 by January 2025. NAPE aims to reach 4,000 members before its next round of negotiations in 2026.
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