State union to wage freeze: No

LINCOLN -- The largest state employees union is saying "no" to Gov.
Dave Heineman's call that workers take a one-year pay freeze to help
solve the state's budget woes.

Julie Dake Abel, executive director of the 10,500-member Nebraska
Association of Public Employees/AFSCME, said this morning that state
employees, in phone calls and e-mails to her office, voiced overwhelming
opposition to taking what she called "the governor's cut."

"He has given us no job security, no guarantees of anything," Dake Abel
said, in terms of the numbers of job layoffs that might be avoided. "State employees are tired of taking the brunt of everything, especially
when they give different ideas of cost savings out there."

Heineman proposed the wage freeze last month to help prepare the
state for looming budget challenges and to avoid job layoffs. He cited forecasts that project a budget gap of $128 million by July 2011
between projected state revenue and state spending needs.

The governor was traveling and not immediately available to comment.

The Legislature cut $334 million in spending during a special session in November that was prompted by the recession. Many officials predict another round of budget cuts will be needed before the economy, and tax receipts, rebound.

Dake Abel has said expenses can be cut in other ways, such as using cash reserve funds, which total about $324 million. She said state employees view a wage freeze as a pay cut because their health-care premiums have risen 15-22 percent in the past five years.

Dake Abel added that about 7,000 state supervisors have taken less
drastic cuts, and earned higher wage increases, in recent years.

Correction: In an earlier version of this story, the Nebraska
Association of Public Employees/AFSCME, was misidentified.

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