State budget roundup and next steps

April 18, 2024

 Dear MSEA-SEIU Member,

Early this morning, at 5:30am, the 131st Legislature finally passed the supplemental budget. Thanks to the advocacy of over 1,000 MSEA members, our demands were at the center of the negotiations until the final hour.  

For months, MSEA members have been pushing for LD 2121, Representative Drew Gattine’s legislation to address chronic understaffing in state government. It sought to allocate resources to implement the yet-to-be-completed Executive Branch compensation and classification study and improve the recruitment and retention adjustment process. LD 2121 initially passed the House and Senate.

Yet, two weeks ago, the Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee reported out a budget that not only didn’t include any of the funding or language for LD 2121, but it also included tax increases on middle class retirees’ pensions. MSEA members, along with support from other union members and allies, successfully pushed legislators to reopen budget negotiations to fix these issues.  

With the passage of the amended supplemental state budget, state legislators approved authorization language for the Mills administration to use all funds in the State’s Salary Plan to negotiate with us over the implementation of a new compensation and classification system for Executive Branch workers. We hope that this action by the Legislature will remove any potential excuses from the Mills administration from not bargaining in good faith.  

We also had asked legislators to include language in the budget that increases state employees’ eligibility for recruitment and retention adjustments and to require the use of a neutral third party when the State and workers could not reach agreement, which would have strengthened an important tool to address classifications that are underpaid and understaffed. A small but brave bipartisan group of legislators, led by Senate President Troy Jackson, fought until the early hours of the morning to include this and other provisions in an amendment to the budget despite pressure from their own parties to drop the issue. Unfortunately, the amendment was defeated after the Mills administration spread disinformation and threatened to veto the budget over it. In its place, a labor-management task force was created to identify recommendations to bring to the next Legislature to improve the recruitment and retention adjustment process. MSEA will be appointing four members for this task force, and we hope the next Legislature will hold the Mills administration accountable to making strong improvements.  

We protected the pension tax-exemption in state law, ensuring that it will increase to $48,000. We protected the 2023 expansion to the Medicare Savings Program, Medicare Part B premium assistance, in state law.  

The approved budget also includes raises for child protective workers and funding for many reclassifications throughout various state departments. We secured funding for our SASSMM/SARSSM bargaining units (Sexual Assault Support Services of Midcoast Maine /Sexual Assault Response Services of Southern Maine).  

While we have made progress with this budget, there is more work to be done in the months ahead. Let’s remember that what we win is directly related to the amount of power that we wield. The members who lobbied their legislators and mobilized for public hearings made a lot of progress in educating legislators about the impacts of understaffing in our departments.   

Let’s keep our momentum going in support of our Executive Branch bargaining team negotiating with the administration on implementing a new compensation and classification system for state workers. Similarly, let’s also be laser-focused on electing pro-worker champions at the state and national levels in the November 5, 2024, General Elections. By showing our strength in our worksites, at the bargaining table and at the ballot box, we can win strong contracts and retirement security, address understaffing, and finally close the pay gap!

Thanks again to all of you who took action on our issues this legislative session. We are truly stronger together!

In Solidarity,

Mark A. Brunton
President
MSEA-SEIU Local 1989
5 Community Drive
Augusta, ME 04330
207-624-0630