MSEA-SEIU Local 1989 Members Elect Mark Brunton as Next President, Kevin Russell as VP

PHOTO: Mark Brunton, president-elect of the Maine Service Employees Association, SEIU Local 1989, at left, and Kevin Russell, vice president-elect, join current MSEA-SEIU President Dean Staffieri at the podium during the union’s 80th annual meeting Nov. 4 at the Augusta Civic Center.

On Nov. 4, elected delegates of the Maine Service Employees Association, Local 1989 SEIU, elected Mark Brunton as their next president effective Jan. 1, 2024. Mark will succeed MSEA-SEIU President Dean Staffieri, who is termed out after four years.

“Today’s service sector workers need unions. They need collective bargaining. They need representation when they are called into the boss’s office,” Mark Brunton said. “And many of them want collective bargaining. They believe in the power of unions to equalize the power imbalance in the workplace between management and labor. I’m honored to lead this organization where it must go. Together, we will write another chapter in the long history of the labor movement in Maine.”

Brunton works as a comprehensive health planner for the Office of Aging and Disability Services within the Maine Department of Health and Human Services. In the union, Mark currently serves as an Area 2 Director and on the Maine Public Employees Retirement System Board of Trustees.

Delegates also elected Kevin Russell as the union’s next vice president, also effective Jan. 1, 2024. Kevin, who works as an eligibility specialist for Maine DHHS, succeeds Cal Paquet as vice president.

“Congratulations to Mark and Kevin on their election,” MSEA-SEIU President Dean Staffieri said. “I had the pleasure of working closely with both of them over the years and am thrilled they are stepping up to lead the union. I look forward to working with them in the transition.”

The elections were held Nov. 4 during the union’s 80th annual meeting at the Augusta Civic Center. At the annual meeting, the delegates also elected members to the MSEA-SEIU Board of Directors and other union committees.