State Employees (MSEA-SEIU 1989) Reach Tentative Agreement with Mills Administration for New Contracts

The union negotiating team representing the Maine Service Employees Association, Local 1989 of the Service Employees International Union, has reached a tentative agreement with the Mills administration for new two-year contracts covering 9,000 state workers.

The tentative agreement comes after protracted negotiations left workers in the State of Maine Executive Branch working for the past 14 months under contracts that had expired June 30, 2025. The tentative agreement provides for an across-the-board pay raise of 4.5 percent effective the pay week closest to Sept. 1, 2026, and a $2,000 lump-sum payment in the pay week closest to Oct. 4, 2026.

“Our members stood united in these negotiations. Together, we refused to accept earlier offers that management had billed as its ‘last, best and final’ offer,” MSEA-SEIU President Mark Brunton said. “This tentative agreement is progress, but our work continues. We’re taking the gains we won together and organizing for the fights ahead.”

Brunton said the union will keep holding management accountable on a job classification study for state employees. The union also is preparing for the next round of contract bargaining, which will begin in early 2027 with a new governor, and building a legislative agenda to strengthen workers’ rights. Members of the union who work in the Executive Branch of Maine State Government will hold a vote on whether to ratify the tentative agreement in the coming weeks.