Overhaul bill will keep CIR (OS's union safe for now?)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.omaha.com/article/20110515/NEWS01/705159899#overhaul-bill-will-keep-cir

Published Sunday May 15, 2011
Overhaul bill will keep CIR

By Paul Hammel
WORLD-HERALD BUREAU

LINCOLN — Like its unique one-house Legislature, the State of Nebraska plows its own ground when it comes to resolving disputes between public employee unions and their bosses.

So when it came to revamping the Commission of Industrial Relations, which Nebraska alone uses to decide such disputes, the group that drafted the bill now under consideration looked at how other states handle collective bargaining. But it didn't look long.

The reason: The League of Nebraska Municipalities, the main driver of the overhaul effort, wanted changes in the current system but not replacement or elimination of the CIR.

“We think our public employers and employees are better served by a fair and balanced system, the CIR,” said Lynn Rex, the executive director of the League of Nebraska Municipalities.

Some business and conservative groups called on the Legislature this year to end collective bargaining in the state and to do away with the CIR. They argued that the system had allowed union wages and benefits to grow until they were out of whack with private-sector compensation.

Rex said state senators years ago suggested dropping the commission and replacing it with Iowa's system. Iowa relies on mediation if the parties can't agree on their own. If that fails, the case goes to an arbitrator, whose decision is binding.

FULL story at link.

[murielm99]

1. You're still here. Good.