Labor Endorsed Candidates Running for Local Offices

PHOTO: Kittery Town Council candidate Alana Schaeffer, President of the Metal Trades Council.

Several union members are running for local offices in Maine and are on the November ballot in Kittery, Sanford and Bangor. The Eastern Maine Labor Council and Food AND Medicine have endorsed three candidates for three open seats on the Bangor City Council. There are nine candidates running. FAM and EMLC listed the City Council candidates as follows:
 

• Daniel Carson is on FAM's board and is all about the movement and building worker power. He does well with process and committees—something sorely needed in Bangor.
• Angela Walker is Indigenous, with a strong commitment to her recovery and sharing recovery with others; she currently works at the BARN.
• Susan Faloon is a solid progressive who supports workers, marginalized people, and justice-based solutions to our issues.

FAM and EMLC have also endorsed Mallory Cook and Benjamin Speed for Bangor City Council.

Metal Trades Council President Alana Schaeffer is running for the Kittery Town Council. Schaeffer is a journeyman pipefitter by trade, President of United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 788, Chairperson of the Seacoast Shipyard Association, and a three-time elected President of the Metal Trades Council at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard — representing approximately 3,600 skilled trade workers at the negotiating table and in Augusta and Washington, D.C.

“I’m a proud Kittery resident and a proven, dedicated leader with a strong track record of advocating for working-class families, securing state and federal resources to benefit those I represent, and ensuring that those who are often left out of the conversation have a seat at the table,” says Schaeffer on her website.

Retired Sanford Firefighter Gerry Gay (IAFF 1624) is running for one of two seats on the Sanford City Council. Gay serves as the 6th District Vice President of the Professional Firefighters of Maine and worked for 40 years as a firefighter and thirteen of those years in law enforcement. Gay said his priorities will be to address high property taxes, homelessness and lack of housing in the city. He said Sanford residents want a “new direction” for the city.

The Central Maine Labor Council has endorsed public school teacher & MEA member Charlie Urquhart of Hallowell, a pro-labor candidate who once worked for the Maine AFL-CIO, for RSU 2 School Board.