Bangor Public Works Employees (AFSCME 926), Eastern Maine Labor Council, Maine AFL-CIO Call on City Council to Adopt Fair Vacation Policies

PHOTO: AFSCME 926 Chair Chris Nile speaks to the Bangor City Council on Monday night.

The Eastern Maine Labor Council and Maine AFL-CIO joined several Bangor Public Works Department workers (AFSCME 926) at a Bangor City Council meeting on Monday to call on the city to treat all workers equally with its revised vacation policy. The city administration has offered an additional week of vacation to all non-union workers while telling union workers they would have to give up their comp time in negotiations to get the new benefit.

Chris Nile, Chair of AFSCME Local 926, told the city council that the union has been trying to bargain for additional vacation time for years, but were told that it was a citywide policy that could not be negotiated. But now the additional week of vacation is a citywide policy and they’re told they have to negotiate for it.

“We’re fighting to get something that we deserve and that we shouldn’t have to fight for or negotiate for,” said Nile. “They just wrote the handbook and gave [the additional vacation time] to their non-union people and we’re being told we have to give up something to get something. That’s not fair.”

Members of the Eastern Maine Labor Council, UAW 2320, Maine Labor Climate Council and Maine Service Employees Association (MSEA 1989) also testified in support of the Bangor public works employees.

Joe Hupperich of Dedham argued that city plow drivers who are working 29 hours straight to keep the roads clear of snow are willing to put their lives at risk because they care about city residents and no one else will do it.

“It strikes me that someone who is willing to take away from somebody who is willing to put their life on the line for this city doesn’t deserve to represent the city,” said Hupperich. “It’s gross to me.”

MSEA member Brian Markey, who works for the Maine Department of Transportation as a plow truck driver, said that comp time is very important for people who work overtime and  that it's also a useful recruitment and retention tool.

“If you take that benefit away the grass is very green on the other side. It’s not going to take much to push these employees out the door,” said Markey.

Maine AFL-CIO Legislative and Political Director Adam Goode told the council that management's ploy is a "classic divide and conquer tactic" designed to undermine the union. Bangor City Councilor Joe Leonard, who took the Maine AFL-CIO Worker Candidate Training in 2020, spoke passionately in support of the workers. He said that three directors from different city departments had told him that they were being stifled from voicing their concerns about issues of concern. He thanked the workers for showing up and encouraged them to continue to “make our lives uncomfortable.”

“Something needs to change because the way that we as a city are putting workers to the side is not okay. We’ve done it to the firefighters, we’ve done it to you guys, we’ve done it to airport workers,” he said addressing the public workers employees. “I’m getting incredibly dissatisfied with the way this council is treating workers and the buck needs to stop.”

Councilor Dan Tremble called for an executive session to be bring councilors up to speed on the vacation issues. He then addressed the audience: "I know you guys have been working all the time and to come out on a Monday night to attend this meeting, it sends a very strong message with this many people showing up.”