Court of Industrial Relations (CIR)/Labor
PROBLEM: For years, critics of the CIR have complained that the CIR takes the responsibility, accountability, and certainty of budgeting for labor contracts out of the hands of elected officials. In addition, ciritcs claim that the CIR artificially spirals up wages and benefits and does not take in to account a municipality's ability to pay whatever amount the CIR orders.
SOLUTION: At the close of the legislative session, a new bill was passed reforming the CIR. It goes into effect this October and remains to be seen the impact it will have on future negotiations.
ARTICLES: Collected in this section are Omaha World Herald articles depicting various areas of concern the Alliance is tracking. Although not the entire record, these articles and editorials illustrate larger structural problems with the public employee union/management relationship that continue to cause many of the problems the Alliance has identified in this website.
Omaha Finishes 3rd Q in Red, KETV 11/03/11
Council Backs Hiring of New Negotiator, Omaha World Herald, 11/01/2011
City Councilman: Review City Pay Perk, Omaha World Herald 09/25/2011
Lawmakers Ponder Pensions, Omaha World Herald 09/27/2011
CIR Changes No Help to Omaha, Omaha World Herald 7/19/2011 WHAT???
CIR Bill Passes, Omaha World Herald 5/25/2011
CIR in the Nebraska Legislature, Omaha World Herald 05/04/2011
Effort to Gut Labor Fails, Omaha World Herald 05/05/2011
Unions Blast CIR Proposal, Omaha World Herald 05/17/2011
Deal Reached on Labor Board 05/19/2011
Nebraska Teachers Ready to Rap Critics' Knuckles 04/17/2011
EDITORIALS:
Abolish CIR to Restore Local Control, Fiscal Conservatism, by Mike Groene 04/23/2011
Nabity Whistleblower 06/11/2011
Consider these four local editorials when identifying the overarching problem with current public employee/municipalities relationships generally and the CIR problems specifically.
CIR's Power Invites Failure by Chip Maxwell 04/11/2011
CIR Deprives People of Power by Chip Maxwell 05/10/2011
CIR Solutions Offered by Various Business Leaders 5/15/11
Brother Can You Spare a Dime? 05/15/2011
Terrific national pieces that discuss how cities and states arrived at the crisis they face with their budgets and their public employee union contracts.
The New Tammany Hall by Daniel Disalvo and Fred Siegel 10/12/09
Tom Joad Gave Up by David Brooks 09/27/2010
The Paralysis of the State by David Brooks 10/12/2010
THE ALLIANCE'S ACTIONS: The Alliance was front and center on the CIR discussion, arguing for more local control. While the bill adopted did not contain as many of the local control changes that the Alliance wanted, we will continue to track this measure to see how it impacts future contract negotiations.
LEGISLATION:
LB 397 - CIR Reform
