LINCOLN- On Wednesday, the Nebraska Association of Public Employees, a union that represents more than 8,000 state employees, filed a petition with the Nebraska Commission of Industrial Relations demanding that the state negotiates with its employees after its renewed demands to negotiaite Gov. Pillen's new executive order requiring employees to work in-person were rebuffed last week.

Justin Hubly, executive director of the union, said NAPE filed the petition to protect the rights of its members and the public interest. "We remain critically short staffed and any action that would prompt us to lose any state employees will confound the problem," Hubly said in a statement released Wednesday.

Jacy Shafer, deputy director of communications for Gov. Jim Pillen, responded to last week's union demands by arguing that Nebraskans expect taxpayer-funded workers to "deliver maximum value and productivity, and that is only possible by ensuring our state public servants are, as a general rule, working full-time schedules in the office." The petition contends that Dan Birdsall, the state's chief negotiator, repeatedly declined the union's requests for negotiations.

For the full article click HERE