81-1373. Bargaining units; created; other employee units.

(1) For the purpose of implementing the state employees' right to organize for the purpose of collective bargaining, there are hereby created twelve bargaining units for all state agencies except the University of Nebraska, the Nebraska state colleges, and other constitutional offices. The units shall consist of state employees whose job classifications are occupationally and functionally related and who share a community of interest. The bargaining units shall be:

(a) Maintenance, Trades, and Technical, which unit is composed of generally recognized blue collar and technical classes, including highway maintenance workers, carpenters, plumbers, electricians, print shop workers, auto mechanics, engineering aides and associates, and similar classes;

(b) Administrative Support, which unit is composed of clerical and administrative nonprofessional classes, including typists, secretaries, accounting clerks, computer operators, office service personnel, and similar classes;

(c) Health and Human Care Nonprofessional, which unit is composed of institutional care classes, including nursing aides, psychiatric aides, therapy aides, and similar classes;

(d) Social Services and Counseling, which unit is composed of generally professional-level workers providing services and benefits to eligible persons. Classes shall include job service personnel, income maintenance personnel, social workers, counselors, and similar classes;

(e) Administrative Professional, which unit is composed of professional employees with general business responsibilities, including accountants, buyers, personnel specialists, data processing personnel, and similar classes;

(f) Protective Service, which unit is composed of institutional security personnel, including correctional officers, building security guards, and similar classes;

(g) Law Enforcement, which unit is composed of employees holding powers of arrest, including Nebraska State Patrol officers and sergeants, conservation officers, fire marshal personnel, and similar classes. Sergeants, investigators, and patrol officers employed by the Nebraska State Patrol as authorized in section 81-2004 shall be presumed to have a community of interest with each other and shall be included in this bargaining unit notwithstanding any other provision of law which may allow for the contrary;

(h) Health and Human Care Professional, which unit is composed of community health, nutrition, and health service professional employees, including nurses, doctors, psychologists, pharmacists, dietitians, licensed therapists, and similar classes;

(i) Examining, Inspection, and Licensing, which unit is composed of employees empowered to review certain public and business activities, including driver-licensing personnel, revenue agents, bank and insurance examiners who remain in the State Personnel System under sections 8-105 and 44-119, various public health and protection inspectors, and similar classes;

(j) Engineering, Science, and Resources, which unit is composed of specialized professional scientific occupations, including civil and other engineers, architects, chemists, geologists and surveyors, and similar classes;

(k) Teachers, which unit is composed of employees required to be licensed or certified as a teacher; and

(l) Supervisory, which unit is composed of employees who are supervisors as defined in section 48-801.

All employees who are excluded from bargaining units pursuant to the Industrial Relations Act, all employees of the personnel division of the Department of Administrative Services, and all employees of the Division of Employee Relations of the Department of Administrative Services shall be excluded from any bargaining unit of state employees.

(2) Any employee organization, including one which represents other state employees, may be certified or recognized as provided in the Industrial Relations Act as the exclusive collective-bargaining agent for a supervisory unit, except that such unit shall not have full collective-bargaining rights but shall be afforded only meet-and-confer rights.

(3) It is the intent of the Legislature that professional and managerial employee classifications and office and service employee classifications be grouped in broad occupational units for the University of Nebraska and the Nebraska state colleges established on a university-wide or college-system-wide basis, including all campuses within the system. Any unit entirely composed of supervisory employees of the University of Nebraska or the Nebraska state colleges shall be afforded only meet-and-confer rights. The bargaining units for academic, faculty, and teaching employees of the University of Nebraska and the Nebraska state colleges shall continue as they existed on April 9, 1987, plus the addition of Kearney State College, and any adjustments thereto or new units therefor shall continue to be determined pursuant to the Industrial Relations Act.

(4) Other constitutional offices shall continue to subscribe to the procedures for unit determination in the Industrial Relations Act, except that the commission is further directed to determine the bargaining units in such manner as to (a) reduce the effect of overfragmentation of bargaining units on the efficiency of administration and operations of the constitutional office and (b) be consistent with the administrative structure of the constitutional office. Any unit entirely composed of supervisory employees of a constitutional office shall be afforded only meet-and-confer rights.

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