Maine AFL-CIO

Farmworkers do difficult work that keeps food on our tables. In Maine these workers are currently excluded from critical labor laws like Maine’s minimum wage and overtime. This bill would have extended minimum wage protections to farmworkers, required a limit of 80 hours of forced overtime in a two-week period and allowed farmworkers the right to a 30-minute unpaid rest break every six hours. These are rights that other workers have had for over eighty years. Establishing worker protections for farmworkers would improve working conditions for some of the state’s most exploited workers who are disproportionately workers of color. This bill was passed by the Legislature but vetoed by Gov. Mills.

When we invest public money in training programs, we should ensure they lead to careers with good wages and benefits and deliberately open opportunities to historically underrepresented populations. LD 1539 improves standards for publicly funded apprenticeship programs to ensure that Registered Apprentices are diverse and are fairly compensated upon graduation. This bill incentivizes registered apprenticeships to demonstrate a commitment to traditionally underrepresented populations including women, people of color and justice involved Mainers by meeting benchmarks for graduating and supporting these populations. It also requires Registered Apprenticeship programs to report their “total package value” which includes not only end wages, but the value of benefits like health and retirement.

This supplemental budget provides funding to make child care more affordable and accessible, doubles salary stipends for childcare workers and creates a statewide paid family and medical leave program. It includes a one-time three percent COLA for retired state workers and provides funding to complete a compensation and classification study and close the state employee pay gap. Teachers and state workers who retired early when 2011 pension cuts were made to give tax cuts to the rich will also see decreased pension penalties and nearly 5,000 retired state workers will receive new assistance for their Medicare Part B premiums.

Climate change poses serious threats like warming oceans, rising sea levels, extreme weather and more. 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. This historic offshore wind jobs legislation protects critical fishing grounds and puts Maine on a path to clean energy independence. LD 1895 requires that any offshore wind project and port must be built under strong, industry- leading labor standards, including Project Labor Agreements and other benchmarks that prohibit temporary workers and independent contractors. It mandates that workers are paid unions’ collectively bargained total package rate with comparable health and retirement benefits, safety training, and participation in registered apprenticeship programs.

It is essential that working people can access paid leave to be with their family during life’s most important moments. Whether it is caring for a newborn child, dealing with a serious health condition, military caregiving needs or other family demands, working people deserve time away from their job in order to care for themselves or a loved one. It is not possible to expect people to be able to do this without being paid. Under this new law, workers will receive up to 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave. Paid family and medical leave reduces economic inequality, promotes gender equity in the workplace and makes it easier to return to work after childbirth. The new law ensures workers who earn good wages have sufficient wage replacement when taking leave, splits the cost of the program between employees and employers and protects workers who work under collective bargaining agreements that offer better plans than the state law.