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Reconciliation Budget + Infrastructure Bill = Good Deal for Workers

Andy O’Brien
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IN THIS EDITION:

  • State Employees (MSEA 1989) Reach Tentative Agreement On Two-Year Contract
  • Nominate Your Selection for Shop Steward of the Year
  • Reconciliation Budget + Infrastructure Bill = Great Deal for Workers
  • APRI-Maine Chapter: Empowering Workers of Color & Fighting Racism
  • Labor Day Letters to the Editor 

State Employees (MSEA 1989) Reach Tentative Agreement with Mills Administration On Two-Year Contract

[caption caption="State employees rallying in Augusta for a fair contract." align="center"][/caption]


Congratulations to Maine Service Employees Association/SEIU 1989 executive branch workers who have just reached a tentative agreement with Governor Mills’ administration on a new two-year contract. MSEA members have been in tough negotiations for several months over wages and other issues.

"Over the last six months, over 2,500 of you and your coworkers shared your bargaining priorities with us, thousands of you also signed petitions and picketed outside state offices throughout our great state," the bargaining team wrote in letter to members Wednesday. "Over 1,200 of you and your coworkers wrote letters to the Governor. Many of you rallied outside the State House and the Governor’s mansion in support of a contract that Respects Us, Protects Us and Pays Us fairly for our work... The solidarity and support we’ve all shown for each other and the work we do empowers us to keep fighting for an even better future for all of us, so let’s keep this momentum going!"

The proposed contract includes:

  • An across-the-board 2 percent pay raise with the start of the pay week beginning this December, 2021;
  • A $2,000 one-time payment, pro-rated for seasonal, part-time and intermittent employees;
  • An across-the-board 4 percent pay raise starting around July 1, 2022; and
  • A raise for all state-worker salary schedules that are below $15 an hour to $15 an hour.

The Mills Administration has also committed to a process and a timeline to make a plan to close the pay gap for State employees. MSEA SEIU 1989 will soon be mailing out ballots, along with a summary of the tentative agreement and a return envelope, to MSEA members for the contract ratification vote.

Nominate Your Selection for Shop Steward of the Year

Do you know a steward in your union who goes above and beyond the call of duty? Someone who fights hard for fair contracts, educates and helps members with workplace issues, engages members in collective action, and leads by example? Please consider nominating this exceptional steward for our annual Maine AFL-CIO Shop Steward of the Year Award! 

Click here for more info and to nominate your selection!

A committee will evaluate all the submissions, make a selection, and we will recognize the steward at our Maine AFL-CIO online Biennial Convention Tuesday, October 26 - Wednesday, October 27.  The deadline for nominations is Wednesday, October 13.

Reconciliation Budget + Infrastructure Bill = Good Deal for Workers

Currently two critical pro-labor bills that will significantly improve the lives of working families are in the process of moving through Congress. The US Senate has passed a bipartisan infrastructure bill that invests $550 billion in new spending to build out, upgrade, repair and maintain the nation’s roads, bridges, pipes, ports and railroads — marking the largest federal infrastructure investment in decades. The measure also will invest $65 billion in the country's broadband network to bring high speed internet to low-income and rural households. The bill will be voted on in the House at some point in the coming weeks or months. 

The Communications Workers of America were instrumental in ensuring, for the first time, the requirement that state broadband grants prioritize contractors on these projects that have a demonstrated record of and plans to be in compliance with federal labor and employment laws.

Senate Democrats have also released the framework for a $3.5 trillion reconciliation budget bill that would invest in workers' rights, health care and safety net programs to benefit working families.  This bill will go through the process of reconciliation, which means that it needs a simple majority to pass rather than the filibuster-proof 60 votes. 

While the actual bill has not yet been crafted, a framework agreement released last month includes provisions from the PRO Act, including serious monetary penalties for employers that engage in union busting. This would make Unfair Labor Practices have a real economic cost for employers. Its one important step in restoring workers' freedom to organize. 

The proposed budget reconciliation bill lowers prescription drug costs by allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices. It expands Medicare to cover dental, vision and hearing. 

The proposal also includes funding for the establishment of a universal Pre-K program for 3- and 4-year-olds, enhanced child care subsidies, an expansion of the monthly child tax credit, paid family and medical leave, affordable housing and two years of tuition-free community college.   

In addition, the framework proposes more funding for home and community-based services to help seniors and people with disabilities, which would help many Maine families struggling to provide these services. Finally the reconciliation budget would help create clean energy jobs, fight climate change and create a “Civilian Climate Corporations” to employ thousands of young workers to help conserve public lands and waters and strengthen community resilience.

The proposal would be paid for primarily by taxing the wealthy. Many elected leaders and organizers have called for both the reconciliation package and the infrastructure bill to be voted on at the same time to ensure passage of the strongest version of both bills. We will keep you posted as both bills move forward.

APRI-Maine Chapter: Empowering Workers of Color & Fighting Racism 

Union members of color now have a constituency group in the Maine AFL-CIO — the A. Philip Randolph Institute - Maine Chapter. The organization has been building for three years, and recently adopted official by-laws. APRI-Maine is now moving toward an official kickoff event and election of officers over the next few months.  The organization is dedicated to encouraging full participation of people of color in our unions and communities, developing leaders and activists of color, and eliminating racism and its effects in our organizations and throughout our state. APRI-Maine membership is open to everyone who supports its goals, especially union members of color.

Some activities of the organization over the past three years have included: a presentation of the AFL-CIO’s “Race & Economics” program in 2019; a “Race & Labor” educational workshop in 2020; breakout workshops on experiences of race and racism at work and in the labor movement at our Labor Summer Institutes; a workshop on race at the 2021 Maine AFL-CIO Winter Institute; a showing and discussion of the film “10,000 Black Men Named George” and a slideshow presentation and discussion about Maine Race and Labor History.

APRI-Maine regularly holds discussions about race related current events. They organized joint discussions with the Maine AFL-CIO Labor Reading Group of Ibram Kendi’s book “How to Be an Anti-Racist” and Bill Fletcher Jr.’s pamphlet “Race to Labor", and organized a visit to the Maine State Historical Society Museum to see the exhibit on Wabanaki history and culture. Another visit to the Museum for the exhibit “Begin Again: Reckoning with Intolerance in Maine" is in the works. Group members support each other on issues of race in the workplace and have made some good friends along the way.

Regular meetings are held on the third Wednesday of each month, currently on Zoom. We gather at 6:15pm for some social time. The meeting begins at 6:30 and usually wraps up by 8pm. To get involved, contact APRI-Maine Acting-President Garrett Stewart 207-504-1106, gstewart4785 at outlook dot com or Maine AFL-CIO President Cynthia Phinney 207-491-9928, cynthia at maineaflcio dot org. And you can follow APRI-Maine on Facebook.

Will you write a Labor Day letter to the editor?

Today half of US workers would like to join a union, but our broken labor laws make it much harder than it should be. That's why we are building a movement to pass the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, which would strengthen our labor laws and make it easier for workers to form unions.

For this coming Labor Day, will you take a moment to write a letter to your local newspaper about what your union means to you and why you support the PRO Act? Click here to let us know if you are interested.  We can help you draft a letter or submit it.

Here are some prompting questions to consider as you write:

  • Who are you? Where do you work? What work do you do?
  • What does having a union mean to you personally?
  • What benefits do you get from being part of a group of organized workers and working under a collective bargaining agreement?
  • What are some key demands (like better wages, benefits, etc) workers can win when they form unions?
  • Why do you support the PRO Act?

If you've never done this before, that's AOK. We can help you do it!