Have you experienced unavoidable technological difficulties that kept you from performing the duties of your job? That’s exactly what happened to Social Services Worker and NAPE/AFSCME member Brianne Bushlow (DHHS, Fremont). Brianne attempted to log-in to her computer to begin her day, but soon realized that she wasn’t able to access her programs due to technology issues.
“My favorite part about my job is, of course, helping Nebraskans,” Brianne said. “I couldn’t do that though because there was a state-wide outage they were working on.”
Despite being ready to begin her voluntary overtime assignment, management deducted an hour of pay from Brianne’s time card for the time IT was working to fix the issue she was having with her computer.
Brianne, who serves as a steward in her workplace and on NAPE/AFSCME’s Board of Directors, knew she needed to call her union representative right away. Together, they enforced her rights, filed a grievance to get her the time back, and won!
“If someone was facing a similar situation, I would make sure they knew to contact their union representative and enforce our contract rights,” Brianne said. Don’t hesitate to contact your union representative if you find yourself in a situation like Brianne’s.
As we prepare to begin contract negotiations this fall, now is the time to join our union.