Maine AFL-CIO

When law enforcement, corrections officers, dispatchers, firefighters and EMS personnel get post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the burden of proof is on the employer to prove that the condition is not work related. Otherwise, it is incredibly difficult, costly and time consuming for workers to prove which specific incident caused their PTSD when applying for workers’ compensation benefits. This so-called “rebuttable presumption” law was scheduled to sunset in 2025. LD 82 supports first responders with PTSD by making this temporary law permanent.

Sponsored by Rep. Matt Beck, an IBEW 1837 retiree, this bill directs the Maine Department of Labor, in partnership with the Governor’s Energy Office and departments with jurisdiction over energy matters, to develop a fact sheet and technical resource guide for businesses that clearly outlines state laws around wage and hour laws, labor standards, workforce requirements and benchmarks related to energy projects and programs.

Roughly one in six state positions are vacant, largely due to insufficient pay. Chronic understaffing leads to a negative impact on the delivery of crucial public services and deteriorates morale in state employment, ultimately undermining working conditions and driving down wages for all workers across the board. This bill would create the State Employee Compensation Stabilization Fund to capture excess budget resources for the purpose of raising State Employee pay and closing the pay gap.

LD 1270 will help ensure that the thousands of clean energy jobs created in Maine will be high-quality jobs that retain a well-trained, skilled workforce. The bill improves prevailing wages statewide by limiting the wide fluctuation in prevailing wages that often occurs in rural counties in Maine. It incentivizes project developers to enter into Project Labor Agreements (PLA) that utilize registered apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs. This new law requires all contractors, whether union or non-union, to pay rates that guarantee fair wages, including healthcare and retirement packages.

Certified pre-apprenticeships and registered apprenticeships are a tried and true method to get more people into the trades. The Maine AFL-CIO has had great success running our Union Construction Academy pre-apprenticeship program opening career pathways into the union construction trades to many more workers in Maine. LD 1117 strengthens standards for pre-apprenticeship in Maine and sets out a process to provide sustainable and durable funding to these programs.

Across the state school districts are facing tough decisions, including laying off teachers and staff, due to budget shortfalls caused by inflation and the ending of federal pandemic relief money. Gov. Paul LePage’s 2011 tax cuts for the rich eliminated millions of dollars in revenue and resulted in a tax code that treats someone earning over $61,600 the same as a millionaire. LD 1089 would have added a surcharge of 2% on the portion of a taxpayer’s Maine taxable income in excess of $1 million to fund public pre-K-12 education.

Federal and State employees in Maine are the backbone of essential services, from providing health care, maintaining roads, providing public safety and protecting our most vulnerable to maintaining our Navy submarines and safeguarding aviation and infrastructure. LD 874 will provide financial support to state and federal workers who are forced to work without pay or furloughed during a government shutdown. The bill creates a loan guarantee program offering interest-free loans to help cover lost income for essential state and federal employees during government shutdowns.

This two-year budget passed during a time of uncertainty related to federal funding and provided important clarity on the state’s commitment to fully fund public services and avoid a state shutdown. This budget fully funded Revenue Sharing to municipalities, covered 55% of K-12 education costs, and effectively eliminated the possibility of a government shutdown.

In harvesting the food we put on our tables everyday, farmworkers do some of the most valuable work in our society and they deserve dignity and fair wages. Farmworkers are currently excluded from critical labor laws like Maine’s minimum wage and overtime. LD 589 addressed wages for farmworkers by making them eligible for the state minimum wage and protecting farm workers’ right to take action in court if their wages are stolen. This bill was passed by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Mills.

So called “right-to-work” laws are designed to weaken unions, drive down wages and allow workers to get the benefits of unions without paying dues. Currently in Maine in the private sector, unions and employers can negotiate contracts where all workers who benefit from a collective bargaining agreement share in the costs of bargaining and representation. LD 187 would have made it illegal for employers and employees to agree that all workers who benefit from a collective bargaining agreement share in the costs.

Workers at paper mills in Maine are being forced to work overtime, often working 18 - 24 hours straight, which puts an extreme burden on their health and family lives and threatens workplace and public safety. LD 1794 initially would have put clear restrictions on forced overtime and then was amended to create a special commission to examine the damaging practice of mandatory overtime in paper mills and recommend solutions, including legislation, to limit forced overtime. LD 1794 was 'pocket vetoed,' which is when a bill dies due to inaction from the Governor after the Legislature adjourns.

Big corporations deploy complicated tax loopholes and accounting schemes to avoid paying the taxes they owe. From 2018-2023, 109 of the biggest corporations in the US paid $0 in federal taxes in at least one year. LD 1337 would provide data on corporate income tax avoidance by requiring reporting of corporate income tax data for the largest corporations doing business in Maine.

Unions in Maine have been developing a vision to address accelerating climate change and deepening inequality by passing legislation to support thousands of new union jobs in the clean energy sector. Offshore wind is essential to tackle climate change, while bringing good-paying union jobs to lift up Midcoast communities that have been hit hard by decades of factory closures. LD 2266 will allow the permitting process to move forward on an offshore wind port in the multi-year permitting process that is currently underway. This bill was enacted in both the House and Senate and language from the bill was included in the supplemental state budget, which became law.

In 2019 Maine passed a law that requires municipal employers to recognize a union if a majority of workers in the bargaining unit sign union authorization cards, a process known as “card check”. This has made the process for forming public sector unions more efficient and has cut down on union busting. LD 2032 expanded the state’s card check law to include state employees, judicial employees and university, academy and community college employees.

This legislation would ensure that workers have a free and fair chance to join a union for any manufacturing, fabrication, maritime or operations and maintenance work done in a new port by utilizing employer-employee harmony agreements for key parts of non-construction work in a port. These agreements are a way to ensure workers’ freedom to join a union free from employer intimidation. This bill was passed by the Legislature, but vetoed by Gov. Mills.

Maine workers lose millions of dollars every year to wage theft, whether by not receiving overtime pay, not being paid for all hours worked or being paid less than minimum wage. Historically, employers who violated labor laws were let off the hook easily. The Legislature passed and Governor Mills signed LD 372 which will give Maine Department of Labor stronger enforcement power to crack down on wage theft.

In harvesting the food we put on our tables everyday, farmworkers do some of the most valuable work in our society and they deserve dignity and fair wages. Farmworkers are currently excluded from critical labor laws like Maine’s minimum wage and overtime. LD 2273 would have improved wages for farmworkers by making them eligible for the state minimum wage and allowing farm workers the right to take action in court if their wages are stolen. This bill was passed by the Legislature but vetoed by Gov. Mills.

The State of Maine is devaluing and underpaying state work. That has resulted in one in six positions in state government being vacant and a deterioration in working conditions for state workers and the quality of services for Maine people. LD 2121 would have funded a new compensation and classification system for executive branch workers and taken steps to improve recruitment and retention in State government. The Maine Senate adopted amendments to include some of these improvements in the budget, but they were ultimately not included due, in large part, to Governor Mills’ opposition.

Federal and state employees in Maine maintain roads and our Navy submarines, protect children from abuse, provide Social Security benefits to seniors, protect aviation & public safety and much more. When political dysfunction in Washington shuts down the government -- or if State government gets shutdown during a budget standoff -- federal and state employees are forced to work without pay or furloughed. Workers struggle to pay for heat, feed their kids and pay their bills. LD 2113 would have provided access to no-interest loans for up to $6,000 per employee during shutdowns. LD 2113 was passed by both bodies, funded, but died on the final day of the legislative session.

The State of Maine spends millions of taxpayer dollars every year to buy things that we need, including materials for the construction of roads, buildings, bridges, and public works projects. One key way the state can create jobs and support the economy would be to legislate that these goods be Made in America whenever possible. LD 1983 would have done just that by creating a state procurement preference for Made in the USA goods and materials with reasonable exemptions when needed. LD 1983 passed the Senate but failed to pass the House.