Convergence is pleased to be collaborating with the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center on a series of articles spotlighting progressive initiatives in play this election season. This is the second article in the series; you can read the first one here.
Nebraska is the type of place where a casserole is left on your doorstep when your whole family has the flu. Where the neighboring farmers show up and plow your fields if you become injured during harvest. Some communities are building daycare centers to meet the needs of working families; in others, it’s not uncommon to attend a pancake feed or hog roast to raise money to meet a family’s financial needs during a medical emergency.
Hard work and helping your neighbors has always been part of the fabric of life in this plains state. So, although Republicans have been in the majority at the state and federal levels for decades, Nebraskans have voted for progressive ballot initiatives by overwhelming margins.
Nebraska’s population has hit a plateau at just under two million. Members of younger generations are leaving the state because of job availability, better wages and job benefits offered elsewhere. Additional factors, like availability of affordable housing and quality child care, could be why people choose to live elsewhere. People also contend with the rolling back of civil rights, including recent restrictions on abortion care and laws targeting LGBTQ+ individuals.
Nearly 80% of school-age children in the state have working parents, so Nebraskans know about hard work, too. And yet, many of those hard-working Nebraskans don’t have access to paid sick days. According to a Nebraska Benefits Report released in 2021, more than a third of the state’s full-time employees had no paid sick leave in 2020 while 86% of part-time employees were without any sick leave.
The lack of paid sick leave in Nebraska impacts nearly every industry, especially those who employ part-time and temporary workers, young workers, workers of color and women. In Nebraska and across the United States, more women are working than ever. They are also providing the majority of unpaid family caregiving responsibilities. Women in service-sector jobs are 11 percentage points less likely than men to have access to paid sick leave. Additionally, 43% of working mothers—which includes 54% Latina and 42% Black mothers—do not have access to paid sick leave, which is particularly concerning given that women shoulder a disproportionate share of caregiving duties throughout the United States.
With one in four working Nebraskans lacking paid sick leave, the issue needed to be addressed through policy change, particularly for the state’s more than 20,000 meatpacking and poultry processing workers who work hard daily to provide food for Nebraska families. Even before the pandemic, access to paid sick leave consistently emerged as a priority for meatpacking and poultry workers. It was common to hear stories from workers who could not take one paid sick day to care for themselves or a family member for fear of being penalized for doing so. In local industries such as meatpacking and poultry plants, workers have to contend with alarmingly high injury rates and a lack of safety as well as wage and hour protections.
Then, the need for basic paid sick leave became even more critical during the COVID-19 pandemic, when meatpacking and poultry plant workers were among the hardest hit. Despite the strong efforts from workers, community leaders, organizations and public health groups across the state to push for a paid sick leave policy, the Nebraska Legislature failed to pass such relief. It became clear that the cost of not having paid leave was between choosing potentially life-threatening health outcomes or paying bills.
How we got here
Nebraskans have found incremental success in passing economic issues through the Nebraska Legislature, the only unicameral in the country. In recent years, laws have been passed to increase access to affordable child care, prohibit employers from retaliating against employees who discuss their compensation, remove sales taxes on diapers and provide tax credits for caregivers. Because the legislature holds open committee hearings on every bill, Nebraskans have ample chances to have their voices heard with the general public deemed “the Second House.”
However, the legislature has failed to pass substantive legislation to address the needs and demands of working families in Nebraska. For more than a decade, bills related to both short- and long-term paid leave policies have been introduced in the Nebraska Legislature. The final attempt occurred during the pandemic with State Senator Tony Vargas introducing legislation that would require companies to offer workers at least 40 hours of paid sick leave per year.
“Hardworking Nebraskans should never have to choose between caring for themselves or a loved one or putting food on the table for their families. As a working parent of two young kids myself, I understand the challenges that so many Nebraskan families face. That’s why I’ve fought for paid sick leave in the Nebraska Legislature,” said Vargas.
When issues like paid leave stall in the legislature, advocates have turned to collecting signatures to petition to put issues directly in front of voters. Passing policies through the legislature is the far more affordable pathway. In Nebraska, ballot campaigns have required, on average, at least $1.5 million in funding. After it became clear that even a global health pandemic wasn’t enough to move the legislature on paid sick leave, local advocates again have turned to the ballot. With funding in place and a strategic plan, Paid Sick Leave for Nebraskans launched in July 2023—more than a year before the General Election.
“When it became clear that the path forward for getting paid sick leave was through the ballot, we gathered those who care about working Nebraskans, put our plan together and launched with enough time to ensure we could connect with as many impacted people as possible,” said Becky Gould, Executive Director of Nebraska Appleseed. “After you go through a few cycles of ballot initiatives, you understand just what it takes and can anticipate how to get the job done.”
Partners in action
Paid Sick Leave for Nebraskans is composed of 18 locally based organizations. From labor advocacy to economic justice organizations, the work is done collaboratively with each organization leaning into their strengths to elevate the collective work.
“Our power lies in organizing and harnessing our collective efforts to amplify our impact. Every person, partner and organization—whether a direct service provider, cultural center, advocacy group or volunteer—brings their unique experience, perspective and talents to our movement,” said Brad Christian-Sallis, Director of Power Building with the Nebraska Civic Engagement Table. “By focusing on shared goals and collaborating more effectively through carefully structured workgroups, we have created a force that truly strengthens and serves our communities.”
These organizations didn’t just start when they launched the paid sick leave petition in July 2023. It’s been a building of momentum and organizing since voters approved Medicaid expansion in 2018. Many of the organizations—such as ACLU of Nebraska, Nebraska Appleseed, Nebraska Civic Engagement Table, Voices for Children and Women’s Fund of Omaha—have consistent interactions with state lawmakers to create and implement changes in statewide public policy.
After several years of failed attempts at the Nebraska Legislature to reduce the annual interest rates for payday loans down from more than 400%, economic justice organizations and those who had experienced the vicious cycle of debt created by predatory payday lending joined together in 2020 to put the issue on the ballot. The result? Nebraskans voted overwhelmingly to cap payday loans at 36% annual interest rate.
During the next midyear election in 2022, over 25 organizations and individuals joined together as Raise the Wage Nebraska to increase the minimum wage for the first time since 2016. This initiative aimed to gradually increase the minimum wage to $15 in 2026, after which wages would be adjusted annually to account for cost of living increases. Over the course of the campaign, the Raise the Wage coalition worked across the state, engaging with communities, directly affected workers and families, and businesses. In November 2022, 58% of Nebraskans voted in favor of increasing the minimum wage, which has made a significant difference in the lives of nearly 150,000 working Nebraskans.
“Our communities flourish when every Nebraskan is paid enough to not only meet their needs, but have a real chance to thrive,” said Omaid Zabih, Strategy Senior Director at Nebraska Appleseed. “Unfortunately, it was clear that, at the time, Nebraska’s minimum wage was failing too many of our friends and neighbors who were struggling to support themselves and their families. Our coalition believed that raising the minimum wage was an urgent need to increase opportunity, reduce poverty levels, and help close racial and gender pay gaps for Nebraskans.”
Paid Sick Leave for Nebraskans draws strength from this history of collaboration, and from the diversity of the coalition, both demographically and geographically. With representation from across the state, advocates for paid sick leave have been able to connect with those most impacted. For the more experienced advocacy groups, like Heartland Workers Center, the Nebraska Civic Engagement Table and Nebraska State AFL-CIO, this means taking intentional action within the local community to build meaningful relationships and legislative power. And notably enough, efforts toward establishing strong relationships have encouraged newer community advocacy leaders to rise up.
Omar Samaniego, Community Organizer at Unity in Action, has encouraged his organization and their community to join the conversation on paid sick leave, leading them to successfully sign on more than five businesses in rural Dakota County. Other groups like Centro Hispano and Omaha Together One Community (OTOC) have taken steps to ensure that the voices within their respective rural and urban settings are heard.
“Turning in 138,000 signatures—far more than was required—was a result of years of organizing, building power and strategizing. We do this challenging and important ballot initiative work to ensure Nebraskans have what they need to not just survive, but to thrive,” said Paid Sick Leave for Nebraskans Campaign Manager Jodi Lepaopao. “Having the ability to take paid time off work to care for ourselves and our families is our right as working Nebraskans—not a privilege.”
The path forward
After collecting more than enough signatures and receiving verification from the Nebraska Secretary of State in mid-August, the issue of paid sick leave will be on the ballot this fall.
If passed by the majority of voters, the ballot initiative would go into effect on October 1, 2025, and would allow Nebraska workers to earn one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked. For larger businesses of more than 20 employees, workers may earn up to 56 hours, or 7 days, of paid sick leave per year. For smaller businesses, workers could earn up to 40 hours, or 5 days, per year.
The ballot initiative also puts into law the ability to earn and use paid sick days without retaliation—an important piece of the policy to ensure that workers would be able to access the leave they need without being penalized by their employers.
“This policy is the floor and will not interfere with collective bargaining agreements, contracts or policies that provide more generous paid sick time,” said Sue Martin, Nebraska State AFL-CIO President/Secretary-Treasurer. “This is a step forward in ensuring that if you work in Nebraska, you can earn paid sick time to use when you need it most.”
By all accounts, it seems paid sick leave is heading toward approval in just a few months. Arguments made by scattered opponents about hurting small businesses and waiting for the free market to do its job have fallen as flat as the state itself. Most Nebraskans want to help their neighbors. They know, or have been in a situation themselves, when they have needed to take time off work to care for a loved one.
“As a working mother, I dread the times my children are sick, not only because I want them to be healthy but because it means time away from work, which causes difficulties paying for basic necessities,” said Sierra Edmisten, one of the ballot sponsors and now a Power Building Organizer at Nebraska Table. “Getting paid sick leave on the ballot and into law means so much for my family and for every single Nebraskan. We can keep building the community we want, one that cares for and helps each other.”
Featured image: Paid sick leave advocates celebrate in Lincoln, NE after they turned in petitions bearing 138,000 signatures—far more than they needed to qualify for the ballot—on June 27, 2024.Photo by Rebecca S. Gratz.