State Employees Call on Legislature to Close Pay Gap & Improve Staffing

This week, the Maine Service Employees Association (MSEA-SEIU 1989) called on the Legislature to provide funding to close the pay gap for state employees to improve staffing recruitment and retention. In testimony on LD 2212, the Governor’s proposed Supplemental Budget, the union made recommendations to improve public services and provide state workers with the respect they have earned but long been denied. Last session, the Mills administration and the Legislature diverted $56 million away from the salary plan, which pays wages of state workers, and used that money for other priorities.

"The pay gap isn’t just numbers on a page. It hits real people every day. It’s the reason Maine’s state services are stretched so thin," said state employee and MSEA member Kelly Smith in testimony this week. "Let’s look at what’s happened. A few years back, you could rent an apartment in Augusta for about $800. Now? It’s $1,400 or more. Groceries, heat, health insurance, everything costs more, but paychecks haven’t kept up. For a lot of us, that means putting off essentials, skipping college savings, racking up credit card debt, and taking on second or third jobs."

According to MSEA, workers in all departments of state government are struggling working multiple jobs, seeking subsidized housing or public assistance, and making sacrifices because their wages are so low. For nearly a decade, state employees have pressed the Mills administration and the Maine Legislature to reform Maine’s outdated state employee compensation and classification system because it no longer reflects the work state employees actually perform, the skills required or the realities of the current labor market. Three studies, in 2009, 2020 and 2024, show state workers are paid, on average, substantially below both their private and public sector peers. The State’s own study in 2024 put the state employee pay gap at 14% – a 1% improvement over the past five years.

“The fact is, state workers are falling further behind as they experience Maine’s ‘affordability’ crisis firsthand,” said Beth White, MSEA's Director of Politics and Legislation. “Meanwhile, the administration congratulates itself and demands our ‘thank you’ for balancing yet another state budget on our backs.”