LINCOLN — A tight labor market in Nebraska, plus a rising number of staff vacancies, has caused the state to offer new and more generous hiring and retention incentives for jobs at state prisons, veterans homes and other facilities that require round-the-clock staffing.
State officials described the moves as short-term steps to remain competitive, while “holistic, long-term solutions” are explored.
Eric Maher, a spokesman for the State Department of Administrative Services, said labor negotiators will be meeting with union representatives in September to discuss possible solutions.
One union official said higher wages, not temporary bonuses, are the answer to staffing shortages he described as the worst ever at facilities such as the Tecumseh State Prison.
Workers are regularly called on to work a second shift at the rural Tecumseh prison, and often, activities for inmates must be canceled due to a lack of security staff, despite workers being transported daily from Omaha, said Mike Chipman, the head of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 88. The union represents security staff at state prisons and regional centers.
“It’s getting worse and worse,” Chipman said. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”
He said at least 150 of the 300 vacant security staff positions at state prisons are at Tecumseh, and there are 50 vacant posts at the Lincoln Regional Center, which houses inmates with mental illnesses.
Job vacancies are at a record high at the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. The 988 vacancies are more than 200 more than on Jan. 1, a DHHS spokeswoman said, prompting new incentives for nurses and food service workers.
Gov. Pete Ricketts announced the new hiring and retention bonuses on Friday, with extra incentives offered to protective services staff willing to relocate to the Tecumseh prison for a year. They would receive an immediate $7,500 bonus.
That’s on top of the stipends Tecumseh workers receive for commuting there, which range from $100 to $200 a month. All prison security staff hired before July 31 will be eligible for $500-a-month retention bonuses — billed as a pilot program — over the next year.
Hiring bonuses for new prison staff are being increased from $10,000 to $15,000, payable over three years, and new bonuses for HHS and Nebraska Department of Veterans Affairs workers are being offered up to $10,000. Bonuses also are offered for employees who recruit new staffers.
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