Fourteen NAPE/AFSCME members who work for the Richardson County Roads Department have been working without a contract since July 1, 2023. On March 24, they are taking their fight to the Nebraska Commission of Industrial Relations (CIR) to secure a fair salary increase.
Our members haven’t seen a salary increase since July 1, 2022. The Richardson County Board of Commissioners has refused to reach an agreement, while raising their own salaries by 40% since 2022.
In 2022, the annual salary for a Richardson County Commissioner was $25,151. In 2023, Commissioners John Caverzaige and Rick Karas voted to raise their own salaries to $34,624. In 2024, they voted to raise their salaries to $35,316. That’s a 40% increase since 2022. Commissioners meet once a week, sometimes for less than two hours. Since 2022, the annual salary for our road maintainers has remained $42,452. They work 40 hours a week, and they work extra hours when needed to keep roads clear and maintained for their neighbors.
Our contract expired on June 30, 2023, and the Board of Commissioners did not make its first wage proposal for a new agreement until early 2024 after our union filed a prohibited practices charge at the CIR. In the county’s wage proposal, the Commissioners refused to offer any salary increase at all beginning on July 1, 2023. Instead, the county’s wage proposal would only begin after the contract was ratified — a process that could take several more weeks, if not months, given the county’s previous delay tactics. In other words, the county’s plan to withhold raises until after ratification would mean that our members had been working for nearly a year with no contract and no raises.
Additionally, in order for the county’s wage proposal to take effect, our union members would have to agree to all of the following conditions:
- Give up dues deduction and authorization
- Let the County Commissioners be the final decision-maker in all grievances
- Laid off employees forfeit seniority, even if they are recalled back to work
- Give up certain overtime benefits and time-and-a-half holiday pay
- Give up the ability to roll over accrued vacation time from year to year
- Forfeit all earned sick leave after leaving service
- Give up the right to 5 days of paid injury leave if they are injured on the job
- Give up safety protections including OSHA language contained in our contract
- Waive the right to file with the CIR if the commissioners unilaterally change something that is a mandatory subject of bargaining
- Waive certain disciplinary protections
Our members were left with no choice but to file an impasse case with the Nebraska Commission of Industrial Relations. The impasse hearing will begin at 9am on March 24, 2025 at the Nebraska State Office Building, First Floor Hearing Room, 301 Centennial Mall South in Lincoln. There is no need for this case to be heard if the Richardson County Commissioners would simply agree to a contract with market based salary increases. Call the Richardson County Commissioners today and tell them that you support our union members and to reach an agreement today.
John Caverzagie – 402-419-9071
Rick Karas – 402-239-8228
Bob Campbell – 402-801-2919
