A total of 46 lawyers in the Douglas County Attorney's Office have filed paperwork with the state labor court to organize a collective bargaining unit.
Omaha attorney John Corrigan is representing the deputy prosecutors and civil attorneys seeking to form the Association of Deputy Douglas County Attorneys. The group petitioned the State Commission of Industrial Relations on Wednesday to become a labor organization.
The bargaining unit would solely represent the nonmanagement deputy county attorneys in the office. The petition requests the CIR's permission for a certification election.
The lawyers want to bargain as a group for wages, hours and conditions of employment. According to the petition, 53 employees would be in the unit.
Last month the County Board approved a 1 percent across-the-board salary increase for the attorneys who work under County Attorney Don Kleine.
Kleine has told the board that many of his deputy attorneys are significantly underpaid compared with their peers in the Lancaster County Attorney's Office and also the Sarpy County Attorney's Office, where Kleine's son, Phil, is a deputy county attorney.
Kleine said Friday that he has tried to alert the County Board to the growing disparities in compensation, which have caused frustration for his staff. These days, several county prosecutors make less than law enforcement personnel in the Sheriff's Office, Kleine said.
"I could foresee this possibility," Kleine said of organizing a union, "but I did not want to see it come to this. I understand they feel like they were forced to do this."
Most of the county's employees are members of a union.
Kleine has told the County Board that his deputy attorneys don't receive salary and compensation perks common for other union employees working for the county, such as longevity payments, salary step-increases and overtime pay.
Contact the writer:
402-444-1056, john.ferak@owh.com
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