From July 26-28, NAPE/AFSCME members who were elected to the 2024 State of Nebraska Bargaining Conference met in Lincoln to discuss and debate proposals for upcoming contract negotiations. The Bargaining Conference is the biennial meeting of our union where elected member delegates determine our negotiations priorities and elect fellow delegates to serve on the state contract negotiations team.
As the first order of business, Executive Director Justin Hubly led the delegates through a comprehensive breakdown and discussion of our 2024 negotiations survey results. More than 500 State of Nebraska employees attended our union’s town hall meetings in May and June to share their priorities for upcoming contract negotiations, and more than 2,000 responded to our survey. Click here to read about our town hall meetings.
The delegates then discussed and debated salary proposals, leave proposals, and remote work proposals. Delegates had an opportunity to ask questions and engage in debate over the details of these proposals.
Delegates then debated proposals that were submitted by members prior to the conference and also had the chance to introduce their own proposals from the floor. While many ideas were offered, the majority of delegates spoke to the importance of limiting the total number of proposals in order to stay focused on the priorities voiced by union members at our town hall meetings and in the survey.
Delegates had the opportunity to caucus by agency, and a number of additional agency-specific proposals such as multilingual premium pay, overtime reform, clothing allowances, and more were also prioritized.
Delegates also caucused by bargaining unit to work collaboratively to represent the interests of their fellow bargaining unit members. A bargaining unit is defined by state law and is comprised of employees who do similar work and have similar collective interests.
Just before the close of business, eight delegates were elected to represent our union at the negotiations table this fall. The delegates elected Daniel Buchanan (DHHS, Beatrice), Brandon Brown (Revenue, Lincoln), Dan DeJong (Environment and Energy, Lincoln), Jay Jensen (NDOT, Omaha), Mackenzie Marrow (Library Commission, Lincoln), Tim Miller (NDOT, Ravenna), Carlos Ndirangu (Veterans’ Affairs, Norfolk), and Ashlie Thompson (DHHS, Lincoln). President Melissa Haynes and Vice President Brian Koch were previously appointed to the negotiations team by the Board of Directors. Click here to meet the 2024 negotiations team.
Union members elected the Bargaining Conference delegates to develop a strong negotiations platform – and they did just that. Now we need all State of Nebraska employees to stand together. There’s strength in numbers. If you’re not yet a union member, will you join us today?
