Maine House Passes Public Sector Majority Sign Up bill, Bill to Strengthen Labor Law Enforcement

The Maine House of Representatives voted 85-55 this week to pass a bill that would expand the public sector majority sign up union election bill to include state workers, judicial employees and university, academy and community college employees. LD 2032, An Act to Improve Maine's Labor Laws by Changing the Laws Governing Elections of Collective Bargaining Agents for Certain Public Employees, would streamline the union election process by requiring public employers to recognize a union if a majority of workers in the bargaining unit sign union cards.

The Maine Senate gave preliminary approval of the bill last week, but it faces two more votes for enactment before it goes to the Governor’s desk. See how your State Rep. and Senator voted on LD 2032 here.

The proposal, which is sponsored by Sen. Mike Tipping (D-Penobscot), would require a secret ballot election only if the Maine Labor Relations Board finds majority support for the organization to be in question after examining the cards. A state law passed in 2019 allows municipal workers to use majority sign up and since then it has been used in several union elections involving fire fighters, bus drivers and other municipal employees.
 

For all other workers in the public and private sector, current law allows the employer to decide not to recognize the union when a majority of workers sign up and demand a secret ballot election. In many cases, the employer uses the extra time to wage an anti-union campaign to pressure workers into voting against unionizing. It’s estimated that employers spend at least $433 million per year on union-avoidance consultants, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

Legislature Passes Bill to Strengthen Penalties for Labor Law Violations

The Maine Legislature voted Thursday on largely party lines to pass a bill that will strengthen penalties for labor law violations. The Senate voted 22-12 and the House voted 75-63 to pass the measure, sending the bill to Governor Mills’ desk for approval. The Maine Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Standards (BLS) submitted the bill to raise penalties for labor law breakers and make the criteria for penalty reductions more stringent.

According to a recent report by the Maine Bureau Labor Standards, the average penalties for Maine employers was just 39 cents per wage and hour violation and employers could expect a DOL investigation once every 323 years. Various reports have estimated that employers stole $30 million from minimum wage workers in 2017 and about 17 percent of low-wage workers experienced a minimum wage violation in 2013.

Nevertheless, business groups like the Chamber of Commerce and Republican lawmakers have been on a warpath against this common sense bill, with some comparing the strengthening of labor law enforcement to racial profiling and the Nazi Gestapo.

As the Maine Morning Star reports, Sen. Stacey Guerin (R-Penobscot) said in remarks Thursday that the bill would put the state in a position of being “the enemy of Maine small businesses.” However, according to the Morning Star, Sen. Mike Tipping (D-Penobscot) pushed back, pointing out that small businesses would see decreases in fines under the rule change.