Climate change poses serious threats — 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 creating new union jobs in the clean energy sector. LD 1969 would advance labor and equity standards by requiring that energy projects over two megawatts that receive state assistance pay workers a prevailing wage, encourage registered apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs, develop a diverse workforce, and encourage Project Labor Agreements — a tool to ensure good jobs and that work is done on time and under budget. This bill passed the House and Senate and became law without the Governor's signature.

In order to win big improvements for workers, the labor movement needs to tackle issues that divide us. Wealthy interests have long used racism to divide the working class throughout history. Racism harms union members of color and breaks working class solidarity. This bill makes improvements to how we collect and store data that allows us to address racial disparities and develop laws that benefit all workers in a transparent and accessible manner.

Working people deserve lifelong education and learning opportunities to make sense of the world, the economy and the history of their unions. Maine has a rich labor history and a strong tradition of labor education. By creating the Charlie Scontras Labor and Community Education Center, this bill honors the life's work of Maine's late, great labor historian, Charlie Scontras and strengthens labor education by establishing a community-facing labor education center at USM. This labor center will offer labor education for students, unions and especially the community at large. The bill also provides additional ongoing funding to the UMaine Bureau of Labor Education.

Loggers and wood haulers work extremely long hours, often for low pay and no benefits for large, powerful timber corporations who profit from their labor. Logging is one of the most difficult and dangerous occupations in Maine and is only made worse by a long standing power imbalance in the industry that forces loggers and forest products haulers to accept unfair contract rates for their services. The creation of a Logging Dispute Resolution Board to hear disputes related to the logging industry will help level the playing field, weed out bad actors in the market, give workers a seat at the table and provide a clear process to resolve issues.

The pandemic forced educators to deal with some major challenges. The Board of Trustees for the University of Maine System lacks specific spots for faculty, adjuncts and staff to allow workers to have a voice on important changes to benefits like retiree health care. LD 1820 would have created three new nonvoting seats on the UMaine System Board of Trustees - one for a faculty representative, and one for a staff and adjunct representative. Governor Mills vetoed this bill after it passed the House and the Senate.

Maine faces a crisis in the lack of available homes for working people. For union members and their families, the housing crisis is causing staffing shortages, increasingly long commutes, and lack of space for growing families. LD 2003 eliminates all single-family zoning restrictions, allows accessory dwelling units in all zoning districts, provides support for communities to increase affordable housing and reduces regulatory barriers to multi-family housing development.

This supplemental budget included an exemption from state income taxes for retiree pensions for the first $25,000 of pension income in 2022. Retirement pension income from any source will be tax exempt up to $35,000 by 2025. This will increase retirees' economic security. There were also big wins for public sector workers, including a retroactive retiree COLA increase of 1% for eligible retirees, an increase in the pension base to determine those eligible for a retiree COLA and more than $12 million to increase pay for childcare workers and early childhood educators.

Registered apprenticeship programs train people to become highly-skilled workers through a debt-free, technologically-advanced education. In the construction industry, registered apprenticeship programs help recruit, train and retain workers under an “earn while you learn” model. Apprentices work with experienced workers during the day and take classes at night and are guaranteed increased wages as their training increases. This bill provides ongoing funding to support registered apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs.

Corrections employees work in an unpredictable and difficult working environment. These law enforcement professionals work under extremely high levels of physical and emotional stress and often deal with disrupted sleep and dietary patterns. These working conditions increase the risk of hypertension, heart disease, heart attack and stroke. LD 575 created a rebuttable presumption that a corrections officer who contracts heart disease or hypertension received that affliction due to employment, ensuring that corrections workers have good health care for these work-related injuries.