Nebraska’s largest public employees union reached a tentative contract agreement with the state this week that includes salary increases, a $15 minimum wage for contract work and paid maternity leave — but no work-from-home protections.
The tentative agreement comes after four months of negotiations between the state and the Nebraska Association of Public Employees, which is still waging a drawn-out legal battle with the state over Gov. Jim Pillen’s executive order in November 2023 that broadly ended remote and hybrid work for state employees.
Nebraska Association of Public Employees executive director Justin Hubly speaks during a rally ahead contract negotiations on Sept. 11 at Centennial Mall.
Justin Hubly, the union’s executive director, said the state’s negotiators made it clear that they didn’t feel the need to bargain over the future of remote work after Nebraska’s tribunal responsible for settling public labor disputes in July dismissed NAPE’s bid to force the …