Harris, Golden, Pingree & King Will Deliver for Working People

The next President and Congress could pave the way for a dramatically re-energized and vibrant labor movement or they could continue a decades-long project to undermine, weaken, and destroy our unions. That’s why the national AFL-CIO has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, and delegates to the Maine AFL-CIO COPE convention voted to endorse Congressman Jared Golden, Congresswoman Chellie Pingree and Senator Angus King – because they will work to improve wages and protect and strengthen our right to organize.

A Dramatically Improved Climate for Union Organizing

While more work needs to be done to fight corporate price gouging and lower the cost of housing, we have made real gains under pro-labor leadership in Washington. In the past four years, the number of petitions for union representative has doubled as President Biden’s pro-labor appointees on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) have improved the climate for organizing. This marks the first increase in unionization petitions in 50 years! We know that Kamala Harris will continue to support pro-labor NLRB members while Donald Trump will re-appoint pro-corporate members who will take us backwards.

In the past four years, workers here in Maine have formed unions at Maine Medical Center and Northern Maine Medical Center (MSNA-NNU), Western Maine Transportation Services (ATU 714), Biddeford-Saco-Old Orchard Beach Transit (ATU 714), Upta Camp Edibles & Golden Road Extracts (IAM), Waterville KVCAP (IAM S-89), Portland Museum of Art (UAW & SPFPA), Smalls Cafe and Công Tử Bột (UNITE-HERE), MaineHealth Interpreters (MSEA-SEIU), Kittery Water District (IBEW 1837), Planned Parenthood (MSEA-SEIU), ACLU of Maine (MSEA-SEIU), Maine Organic and Farmers & Gardeners Association (MSEA-SEIU) and numerous fire departments (IAFF), municipal government, school districts and county administrations across northern and central Maine (AFSCME).

The Biden-appointed NLRB has made a number of pro-worker rulings including:

Last year’s Cemex decision, which prevents employers from playing games and refusing to recognize a union when there is unquestionable evidence of majority support. It will also deter companies from unlawfully interfering in organizing campaigns and dramatically reduce “captive audience meetings" nationwide.
The “joint employer rule” that prohibits companies from hiding behind subcontractors and staffing agencies to deny employees the right to collectively bargain.
Speeding up the union election process, strengthening workers freedom to organize, protecting workers engaging in concerted activity and strongly discouraging employers from breaking the law during union drives.

NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo, who would likely be replaced by a Trump administration, is fighting to:

Ban anti-union captive audience meetings
Restrict employers from deploying intrusive workplace surveillance and automated systems that set abusive breakneck paces of work.
Crack down on worker misclassification and reign in the practice of forcing workers to sign non-compete agreements that make it difficult for workers to change jobs. The US Federal Trade Commission actually passed a nationwide ban on non-compete agreements, but it was struck down in August by Trump-appointed Judge Ada Brown.

Meanwhile, corporate interests are seeking to eliminate the National Labor Relations Board altogether by bringing lawsuits to Trump-appointed justices and other anti-labor judges. Kamala Harris will appoint judges that will respect workers’ rights and she will continue to support a pro-labor NLRB.

Saving Pensions for Millions of Workers

Thanks to the Biden/Harris administration and our pro-labor members of Congress thousands of Maine union members and retirees in the paper, trucking and construction industries — including workers from Eastern Fine Paper, Carleton Woolen, Statler Tissue and Huhtamaki among others — will receive their full pension benefits due to funding from the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).

Collective Bargaining on Federal Projects & Boosting Wags for Construction Workers

The Biden/Harris administration passed a new rule mandating the use of project labor agreements (PLAs) for large federal construction projects to ensure contractors and subcontractors negotiate with unions to set terms for project construction—ensuring that the safety and dignity of workers are prioritized on the job sites. It’s estimated this rule will give approximately 200,000 construction workers collectively bargained wages, benefits and safety protections, regardless of union membership status.

The Biden/Harris administration also passed a rule that will help raise wages for union workers on federal construction projects by updating Davis-Bacon and Related Acts Regulation to ensure workers earn good wages and benefits.

Creating More Clean Energy Union Jobs in Maine

The Biden/Harris administration and pro-labor majorities in Congress also helped provide construction work for approximately 800,000 workers due to the historic investments in federally funded construction projects made possible in Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IRA). The IRA funding is putting union members to work building clean energy, power and water infrastructure improvements, pollution remediation, and renovation to the nation’s broadband and transportation infrastructures.

Thanks to investments in the federal CARES Act, the Inflation Reduction Act and the IRA, union building trades members in Maine have secured work on several different projects. IBEW Local 104 lineworkers have been busy doing electrical grid upgrades thanks to the IRA and federal tax credits.

UA Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 716 members got a lot of work from several school construction projects thanks to the CARES Act. The pandemic relief package provided an injection of federal funding to upgrade HVAC systems to create better air flow for students returning to in-person learning after schools were reopened.

The Biden/Harris administration has also awarded Maine with $147 million in federal funding to build what will be New England's largest long-duration energy facility to modernize and strengthen the electrical grid and optimize the delivery of clean renewable energy, including thousands of megawatts of offshore wind at the former paper mill site in Lincoln. The project will be built with a project labor agreement to ensure the workers earn living wages and great benefits.

Medicare Finally Bargaining to Lower Prices for Prescription Drugs

The Inflation Reduction Act also, for the first time, is allowing Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices. The is a hard-fought for reform that had been blocked for years by Big PHARMA and its allies in Congress. The newly negotiated drug prices on ten selected drugs that are scheduled to go into effect in 2026 would have saved $6 billion, or approximately 22 percent if they were in place last year.

Another Trump Presidency Means Union Busting and Lower Wages

The labor chapter in Trump’s Project 2025 Agenda, written by the chief counsel of Trump’s transition team and the head of Trump’s policy team at the Department of Labor, would eliminate public sector unions, make it illegal for companies to voluntarily recognize unions, let corporations union-bust in secret and take away unions mid-contract, eliminate the Biden/Harris rules requiring project labor agreements and Davis–Bacon prevailing wages on federally funded construction projects, and more.

In addition, asIBEW points out, Project 2025 recommends a series of anti-worker policies that would:

Raise taxes on your benefits: Tax worker benefits worth more than $12,000 a year. (page 697)
Slash wages: Repeal Davis-Bacon, which sets prevailing wage standards for construction projects. (page 604)
Destroy Overtime - End overtime as we know it by allowing companies to replace overtime with paid time off. (page 603) Change how companies calculate overtime to whatever they want - bi-weekly, even monthly, so you could work 60 hours in a week then be laid off and not get overtime. (page 592)
Eliminate the federal minimum wage — Allow states to opt out of federal overtime and minimum wage laws entirely. (page 605)
Kill union jobs — End project labor agreement requirements. (page 604)
Cut infrastructure funding — Repeal the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which builds unprecedented labor protections into a trillion-dollar investment in America. (page 365)
Drive down wages & safety standards — Repeal the Inflation Reduction Act, which binds high wages and labor standards to the clean energy transition. (page 365)
Privatize unemployment insurance. (page 605)
Allow states to opt out of labor laws for up to five years. (page 605)
Allow companies to eliminate unions in the middle of a contract and create "employee involvement organizations" to replace them. (page 599)
Ban companies from voluntarily recognizing unions. (page 603)
Make it easier for employers to interfere in union elections. (page 602)

Harris Presidency Will Continue Pro-Worker Policies

As Vice President, Kamala Harris has championed worker organizing and chaired the White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment, where she advocated for new worker organizing and training to create pathways to good union jobs.

The Task Force has recommended passing:

The Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, which would strengthen unions by abolishing state “right to work” for less laws that weaken unions by allowing workers to get the benefits of union membership without paying dues. It would also penalize union busting companies, and would grant independent contractors — such as drivers for Uber and Lyft — with the right to organize and collectively bargain. This enormously impactful worker empowerment legislation is supported by Congressman Jared Golden, Congresswoman Chellie Pingree and Senator Angus King.
Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act, which would “expand public-sector worker collective bargaining rights for state and local government employees.” These rights were dealt a blow by the Supreme Court’s 2018 Janus decision, which eliminated “fair-share fees” charged to nonmembers to cover their share of collective bargaining costs, saddling unions with a costly free-rider problem.
Legislation to expand collective bargaining rights to domestic and agricultural workers.
Policies to make the tax code pro-labor, such as making union dues eligible for a tax credit or above-the-line deduction, or denying employers deductions for union-busting activities.
Measures to prevent employers from misclassifying workers as independent contractors to skirt minimum wage laws, payroll taxes and other benefits.

The choice is clear. How you vote is a personal decision, but if you believe workers deserve a fair shake in this economy, VP Harris, Rep. Golden, Rep. Pingree and Sen. King are the best choices for working people!