Maine Labor Year in Review: Grad Workers, Baseball Players, Restaurant Workers, Firefighters & Other Mainers Unionize
In the past year, Maine workers from a wide variety of sectors overcame the odds and successfully formed unions. As of this week, there are roughly 20 new unions in Maine that didn’t exist in 2022.
Cannabis Workers Unionize with Machinists
Just last week, workers at the Upta Camp Edible Company and Golden Road Extracts in Bowdoinham formed the first cannabis workers union in the state with Machinists Union District Lodge 4. Scott Oullette, the owner of Upta Camp Edible Company and Golden Road Extracts, voluntarily recognized the union. The company produces various products, including Smokies edibles that are widely available in stores throughout Maine. Workers at the Staples store in Brunswick have also organized with the Machinists and will be holding their union election on January 3.
UMaine Grad Workers Organize
The largest union formed in Maine this year is the roughly 1,000-member Graduate Worker Union at the University of Maine. The grad workers organized with the UAW last spring and received voluntary recognition in October. They are continually organizing new members as they fight for a first contract.
Sea Dogs Players & Portland Food & Beverage Service Workers
Food service workers have had some strong organizing wins in 2023. Now you can go to see a union ball game, grab a union cup of coffee and have a full union meal in Portland.
In April, workers at the at the Vietnamese restaurant Công Tử Bột formed a union with UNITE-HERE, making it the first unionized independent restaurant in Maine. At the end of October, Portland-based Coffee By Design voluntarily recognized its staff union after 89 percent of CBD employees signed authorization cards to be represented by Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA).
The Major League Baseball Players Association’s Minor League Players, which includes the Portland Sea Dogs, organized a union last year and won a historic contract in March that more than doubled their salaries.
MaineHealth Interpreters
In June, medical interpreters at MaineHealth voted unanimously to form a union with the Maine Service Employees Association (MSEA-SEIU 1989), joining the Maine Medical Center (part of MaineHealth) Nurses who formed a union with the Maine State Nurses Association (MSNA) in 2021.
Municipal Workers Organizing Wave
This year municipal workers with AFSCME at the town of Orono, Knox County Regional Airport, the town of Easton in Aroostook County, Bangor Airport and Somerset County dispatch unionized using the state’s municipal card check law we helped pass in 2019.
The Orono town employees' union was challenged by Town Manager Sophie Wilson, but after a public backlash against the decision, voters ousted Wilson’s key ally on the Town Council. After a protracted battle at the Maine Labor Relations Board, Orono finally recognized its employee union in August. Wilson ended up leaving her position after the town paid out its second legal settlement to a former employee to settle a discrimination complaint before the Human Rights Commission.
Firefighters on a Roll
The Professional Firefighters of Maine have been on a winning streak, organizing new IAFF locals in Clinton, Raymond, Sabattus and several other towns that are not public at this time. As more volunteer fire departments professionalize, firefighter EMTs are unionizing to negotiate competitive wages, safety protections and benefits.
Sexual Assault & Domestic Violence Responders Unionize
Social service workers continue unionize this year to improve wages and working conditions in the nonprofit world. The board of directors at Sexual Assault Response Services of Southern Maine (SARSSM) voluntarily recognized its employee union after the workers voted unanimously to affiliate with the Maine Service Employees Association (MSEA-SEIU 1989). They join their union siblings at Sexual Assault Support Services of Midcoast Maine (SASSMM) who successfully unionized last year.
In September, educator, advocate and shelter staff at the domestic violence survivor support agency Through These Doors won their union election after nine months of organizing, joining MSEA-SEIU 1989.
In recent years, many of the organizing wins in Maine have been in white and pink collar occupations — like health care workers, nonprofit staff and food service employees — but this year blue collar workers have also successfully unionized in Maine. In late October, workers at the Global South Portland marine terminal voted unanimously to unionize with the United Steelworkers. In November, workers at Rumford Powerin Rumford joined the Utility Workers Union of America (UWUA).
In November, fixed route transit drivers at Western Maine Transportation Services’ Lewiston-Auburn citylink bus service won their union election to form a union with the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 714.