AFSCME Members Back Bill to Allow Mental Health Workers to Retire with Dignity

PHOTO: AFSCME 2089 in Augusta to support LD 2067 last week.

Mental health crisis workers with AFSCME Local 2089 testified on Tuesday in support of a bill that would allow state community mental health workers to retire with dignity with the same benefits as other first responders and mental health care workers in Maine. During the public hearing on for LD 2067, “An Act to Include Certain Community Mental Health Workers Under the 1998 Special Plan for Retirement,” sponsored by Sen. Mike Tipping (D-Penobscot), crisis care workers from across the state shared stories of the difficulty in serving their clients and injuries they’ve suffered on the job.

“Over the past few years, the Labor Committee and the Government Oversight Committee have heard heartbreaking testimony from mental health workers and we’ve acted to expand retirement benefits for those doing this important and often dangerous work,” said Sen. Tipping. “We should recognize their dedication, protect them from harm, make sure we can keep the folks we have and hire new community mental health workers in the future."

The bill would enroll community response workers in the State’s 1998 Special Retirement Plan. It would allow them to retire at age 55 with 10 years of services in the field or 25 years of covered service, as is allowed for other workers in challenging positions, including police officers, fire fighters and liquor inspectors.

“I have been physically assaulted so many times I cannot keep track,” said Local 2089 member Traci O’Neill, a Community Response Worker for Disability Services Crisis Prevention. “I have been hit, kicked, bit, had my hair pulled, spit on and objects thrown at me. I have had my shirt ripped off and been physically groped. I have been hit while driving in the car making me go off the road.”

“As we age, the risk of serious injury and health issues greatly increases in this highly physical and emotionally demanding occupation,” said O’Neill.

Last year, the Labor Committee and Legislature supported LD 579, also sponsored by Sen. Tipping. The bill, incorporated into the biennial budget, added direct care staff at Riverview Psychiatric Center and Dorothea Dix Psychiatric Center to the 1998 Special Retirement Plan.

In the coming weeks, the Committee will schedule a work session for the bill.