Nebraska union files legal action against Pillen's return-to-office order

[Omaha Steve]

https://omaha.com/news/state-regional/government-politics/nebraska-union-files-legal-action-against-pillens-return-to-office-order/article_5141c31e-99f7-11ee-893b-43327d9f4e8e.html

Martha Stoddard Dec 13, 2023 Updated 15 min ago

LINCOLN — Nebraska's largest state employee union ratcheted up its fight Wednesday against Gov. Jim Pillen's return-to-office order.

The Nebraska Association of Public Employees, which represents more than 8,000 state employees, filed a petition with the Commission of Industrial Relations asking that the state be ordered to negotiate over the governor's directive.

The union also filed a motion for temporary relief to stop implementation of the directive before the commission decides. Pillen's executive order, which requires state employees to return to working from their offices with some exceptions, is slated to take effect Jan. 2.

“We took this action today not just to protect the rights of our members, but to protect the public interest,” said Justin Hubly, executive director of the union. "We remain critically short staffed and any action that would prompt us to lose any state employees will compound the problem.”

FULL story at link.