State Projects $265 Million in Additional Revenue; State Employees Demand Mills Address Understaffing, Close Pay Gap

With the State forecasting an additional $265 million in revenues over the next two years while critical state services remain extremely understaffed, State of Maine workers, who have been working under expired contracts for five months, are demanding the Mills administration address understaffing and close the state employee pay gap.

“The Revenue Forecasting Commission projected a $265 million budget surplus for the current biennial state budget, along with a $257 million state surplus for the following two years. That’s all on top of the $1 billion in the State’s maxed-out Rainy Day Fund,” said Morgan Dunton, a member of the union negotiating team for the Maine Service Employees Association (SEIU1989), and an interdisciplinary instruction specialist for the Maine Department of Education.

“Yet one in six state positions remain vacant due to the State’s low pay. Critical services remain woefully understaffed in child protective services, MaineDOT, 911 dispatch centers, engineering services, including state elevator inspectors needed to address Maine’s housing crisis, and throughout all departments of Maine State Government. The State has no excuse for failing to pay market-rate wages to the state workers who are providing these and other services to Maine people. The State should be an exemplary employer to protect state services rather than a model of inefficiency through understaffing. The State has the resources to address understaffing and close the pay gap.”

The union’s negotiating team for State of Maine Executive Branch workers are in contract negotiations via a mediator with the Mills administration. Friday, Dec. 1, would mark their sixth month of working under expired contracts.