Labor groups ring alarms over proposed changes to Nebraska minimum wage, paid sick leave laws
Anahí Salazar, policy coordinator at Voices for Children in Nebraska, spoke at the Nebraska statehouse on Mar, 6, 2025, about bills seeking to soften voter-approved ballot measures on requiring paid sick leave and increasing the minimum wage. (Juan Salinas II/Nebraska Examiner)
LINCOLN — Labor activists stood in the Capitol Rotunda during Thursday morning's agenda and criticized a pair of legislative bills seeking to weaken voter-approved minimum wage and paid sick leave laws, which continue to march on in the Nebraska statehouse.
Worker advocates and union leaders spoke out against the proposed changes as attempts to undermine the will of Nebraska voters, who over the past three years have approved increasing wages and paid leave for all workers via ballot measure.
Nebraska voters approved a ballot measure last November to establish a minimum level of paid sick leave for all workers. The initiative mandates that Nebraska businesses provide employees up to seven days of paid sick leave for businesses with at least 20 employees and five days a year for those with fewer than 20 employees. In 2022, Nebraska voters passed a ballot measure to increase the state minimum wage to $15 per hour starting next year. The measure's design raised the minimum wage by increments to reach that point.
Legislative Bill 258, by State Sen. Jane Raybould of Lincoln, would limit who can get a wage increase in 2027. The proposed change to the initiative would cap the minimum wage at $13.50 per hour for Nebraskans younger than 16 years old, except for those legally free from parental control and responsibility.
LB 698, proposed by State Sen. Paul Strommen of Sidney, would raise the minimum number of employees a business must have to be obligated to provide paid sick leave from one to at least 11 employees instead of 10. His bill would make workers under age 15 and temporary and seasonal agricultural workers ineligible for the mandatory paid sick leave. It also would remove a section that allows workers to sue businesses if they violated the new paid sick leave law.
LB 258 and LB 698 both advanced from the Legislature's Business and Labor Committee.
Raybould proposed changes in LB 258 that also would cap the annual minimum wage increase at a lesser rate of one and one-half percent instead of being linked to the Consumer Price Index to keep up with inflation, which was what voters approved. Another change would modify the 90-day training wage for new employees under 18 to $13.50 and to '75% of the minimum wage' in 2027. The youngest someone can work in Nebraska is 14 years old, with hour restrictions.
'LB 258 does not reflect the will of Nebraska citizens who voted overwhelmingly for stepped increases to minimum wage,' said Anahí Salazar, Policy Coordinator at Voices for Children in Nebraska.
Raybould, whose family owns grocery stores 'throughout the state of Nebraska' wrote in her conflict of interest form filed with the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission that 'providing a youth and training wage would benefit our company with some savings. The cap on the increases in 2027 would also keep the projected minimum wage increase to a more reasonable and predictable one. This would also benefit our company.'
She explained in the form why she won't abstain from voting on LB 258 despite the conflict of interest, because, 'this legislation would impact more businesses besides our grocery stores, including, but not limited to, all retailers, restaurants, detasselers, day care facilities and other small and independent businesses in our state.'
Raybould has made LB 258 her priority bill this session.
Strommen described his sick leave measure during its hearing as an attempt to 'clean up' initiative language and shield workers from 'unintended consequences.' Some business owners and groups that testified for the bill referred to it as a 'lifeline' and said costs could rise and be passed along to the consumer. Others said they welcomed the initiative's original language.
State Sen. Ben Hansen of Blair also said the Legislature with LB 698 must determine a balance between what voters supporting the paid sick leave initiative want and what the state can provide. Student activist Sam Washburn said both bills disappointed him as a young person in the workforce, because they aim to 'undermine protection for workers at small businesses' for young workers.
'I don't understand how democratically elected senators can so easily go against these democratically supported initiatives,' said Washburn.
SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
St. Francis schools to put banned books back on shelves
() St. Francis Area Schools will place banned books back on library shelves and rewrite its library policy to comply with state law, according to a settlement reached in a lawsuit filed by the teachers union. The district had banned hugely popular and celebrated books including 'The Handmaid's Tale,' 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower,' 'The Bluest Eye' and 'The Kite Runner,' among others. The settlement requires them to be returned to library shelves. Education Minnesota sued the district in March on behalf of students, teachers and parents, alleging that the district was violating state law by banning books based on their ideas, stories and characters. The American Civil Liberties Union also filed a separate lawsuit. In 2024, the Democratic-Farmer-Labor-controlled Legislature passed a law touted as a ban on book bans. The law does allow for books to be removed from shelves based on practical reasons, 'legitimate pedagogical concerns, including but not limited to the appropriateness of potentially sensitive topics for the library's intended audience,' and to comply with other state or federal laws. But school districts cannot remove books based solely on its viewpoint or the messages, ideas or opinions it contains. St. Francis Area Schools relied on a website called — which has ties to the right-wing group Moms for Liberty — to determine which books were subject to removal from school shelves. (Booklooks has since shut down, but a third-party organization is maintaining the website's catalog.) The St. Francis case provides a free speech victory following years of repression of books, especially those with themes about race, sexuality and gender. 'I think the book ban movement … it really has little to do with protecting children. It has everything to do with targeting books with diverse viewpoints that may not be in line with the reviewers' political or religious beliefs,' 'Kite Runner' author Khaled Hosseini told the Reformer in March. In the settlement with the teachers union, St. Francis Area Schools agreed to put the books back on shelves and create a new library materials policy that guarantees input from parents and qualified media specialists.
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
'Partial tick': coalition cautious on PM's summit idea
The federal opposition has given the government a partial tick over its upcoming productivity summit, saying that at least Labor recognises there is a problem. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the plan on Tuesday, saying the gathering of business, union and other leaders in Canberra in August would focus on ways to lift economic output. "A round table. Yay!" shadow treasurer Ted O'Brien joked during an interview on Nine's Today program on Wednesday. "But look ... to be fair, at least they're recognising the problem ... so let's take that as a partial tick." Experts are concerned about Australia's lagging rate of productivity - a key economic measure of efficiency and long-term driver of improved living standards. Despite criticism that previous federal government economic summits were too slanted, Mr Albanese said this roundtable would be broad-based. He called for a mature discussion from all parties, noting it was in everyone's interest for productivity to improve. "We're a Labor government, we support unions existing ... but we will always respect both the role of business and the role of unions," he told the National Press Club on Tuesday. "There are common interests ... you don't get union members unless you've got successful employers. "It's the private sector that drives an economy. What the public sector should do is facilitate private sector activity and private sector investment." The Productivity Commissioner's most recent report showed labour productivity fell 0.1 per cent in the December quarter and dropped 1.2 per cent in the past year. The Business Council of Australia says productivity growth over the past decade has been the lowest in 60 years. Council chief executive Bran Black welcomed the roundtable, saying "lifting business investment is essential to boosting productivity, lifting real wages, creating jobs and ensuring more opportunity for more Australians". "We will continue to be very clear about policies that the business community believes will be counterproductive to improving productivity," he said. Mr Albanese said he wanted a boost to productivity, alongside other economic indicators as part of his second-term agenda. "We want to build an economy where growth, wages and productivity rise together," he said. ACTU secretary Sally McManus said working Australians must be at the centre of the roundtable. "We need to leave behind the idea that productivity is equated with cutting pay and making people work harder for less," she said. Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Andrew McKellar said boosting productivity was essential for economic growth. "The business community looks forward to participating in the summit and contributing constructive and sensible ideas to address the problem," he said. Meanwhile, the World Bank has slashed its global growth forecast for 2025 by four-tenths of a percentage point to 2.3 per cent. The downgrade was driven by higher US tariffs on foreign imports and heightened uncertainty posed a "significant headwind" for nearly all economies. The World Bank is the latest body to cut its growth forecast as a result of President Donald Trump's erratic trade policies. But it stopped short of forecasting a recession, despite predicting global economic growth this year would be the weakest outside of a recession since 2008. with Reuters Effettua l'accesso per consultare il tuo portafoglio
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Yahoo
BREAKING: Federal immigration raids hitting Omaha
Customers are perplexed to find a South Omaha store along the main South 24th Street business district closed at mid-morning Tuesday. (Cindy Gonzalez/Nebraska Examiner) OMAHA — Multiple immigration enforcement operations unfolding throughout Omaha on Tuesday have all local elected Latino leaders out visiting various work sites, some South Omaha businesses shutting their doors for the time being and area residents checking in with each other in a frenzy. Latino leaders tracking the situation, posting about it on social media and speaking with workers said they had heard of up to a half-dozen worksites where federal immigration agents had visited. A man trying to get some goods at a South 24th Street store said he worked at Omaha's Nebraska Beef plant, which he said let him and other employees go home at mid-morning. Roger Garcia, chairman of the Douglas County board, announced during a county board meeting Tuesday that he had to leave because his community was 'being terrorized.' 'I have to depart,' he said. 'As we speak, there's word of at least two raids happening at this moment, so I have to go. I have to try and help.' He was among leaders posting in English and Spanish on social media to keep the community informed. Among the potentially targeted businesses Tuesday were Glenn Valley Foods, LALA's and JBS, processing and production plants in the eastern part of the city. Garcia said a company spokesperson told him there was no raid at JBS. State Sens. Dunixi Guereca and Margo Juarez of South Omaha gathered mid-morning with a half dozen other community representatives on South 24th Street. Guereca pointed at the quiet business corridor, the heart of Nebraska's largest Latino business district, and said: 'This is fear.' U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had no immediate comment on the moves. Local law enforcement agencies said they were not participating in the federal raids, but that they are providing agents and the public with traffic enforcement around targeted locations, as needed. Guereca said he was disappointed in the way federal agents carried out the operation, which he said created unnecessary fear for families, customers and merchants. 'Businesses closed their doors. Not only are folks not going to work, they're not consuming,' he said. Yesenia Peck, who heads the Nebraska Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, also came to the 24th Street district to check on businesses. As she approached one store, a customer was attempting to open the door, but it was locked. She said she knew of at least one foreign consulate office based in Omaha, the Guatemalan Consulate, that was sending a representative to an affected worksite. 'Everybody is scared right now. Businesses are closing,' she said. 'This is not life…' Peck said one merchant asked her, 'How are we going to pay the bills? Pay rent?' Martha Barrera, who owns a salon on 24th Street, said her workers have continued to accept customers, but she said people are in panic mode about what is happening outside the doors. She said she is happy that community leaders have offered information on rights and how to respond if federal agents were to come to her business or any others. She and others on the business corridor said their stores rely on Latino families and are worried about future commerce. Peck said she understands there are laws and people must abide by those. 'But this is not the way it should be done,' she said. 'Not cruelly.' 'What is happening right now is unbelievable. I've seen this kind of thing in other countries,' she said, including her homeland of Peru. 'It's just not the right way.' Saul Lopez, of LULAC National, was headed with other community members to pass out information about worker rights at workplaces and said a concern was for parents who might be separated from children. 'We're very worried right now about what's going on with the families.' A leader of an Omaha nonprofit that works with youths said Tuesday that the organization has been working to identify families whose working parent may have been detained and separated from their children. So far, the organization's leader said at least two kids in their care who are from two different families have a parent caught up in the operations. The organization was busy getting a hold of emergency contacts for the kids. Also Tuesday, immigration advocates and community leaders had turned a South Omaha organization into a sort of information headquarters to better understand and coordinate legal, outreach and response activities. This is a developing story. It was last updated at 2:25 p.m. on Tuesday, June 10. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
