Union State House Candidate Doris Poland (APWU) Featured in Windham Eagle

PHOTO: Doris Poland speaking at our COPE Convention in June.

Maine AFL-CIO Executive Board member Doris Poland (APWU) was recently featured in the Windham Eagle about her candidacy for the State House of Representatives in District 106 (part of Windham).

"My interest in politics started when I was very young - my mom and dad were part of the group that did a bean supper to launch Ed Muskie's campaign for Governor," Doris told the newspaper. "Since then, I've watched working families have to work harder and harder to stay afloat. My husband and I raised four kids here in Windham and now I wonder how my grandkids will get by. Augusta needs to do more to support Windham families, from fully funding the state's share of our school budgets, to sending back more money to the municipalities to keep our property taxes in check. We have to do better.”

A 2022 winner of the Maine AFL-CIO Working Class Hero Award, Doris has a long history in Maine’s labor movement championing the cause of labor, showing up for everyone’s fights and always volunteering when something needs to be done. She has been a union member for nearly 60 years, first as a Machinist member in the early 1960s manufacturing commercial laundry and dry-cleaning equipment for the Navy, and later as a member of the American Association of Post Office Clerks Auxiliary (later APWU) where she served in various leadership roles. She also helped organize a staff union while working as a bus driver for the Windham School Department. She worked as a technician at the school library until her retirement.

Doris volunteers her time at area food pantries, has worked with the Wounded Warrior Project supporting veterans and active duty service members and as an advocate for people with disabilities. As the Windham Eagle reported, Doris “spends her free time chasing down down legislators in Augusta and Washington D.C. to make sure they hear from Maine families.”

Doris is challenging incumbent Rep. Barbara Bagshaw, who has a 0 percent score on the Maine AFL-CIO Working Families Legislative Scorecard, one of the worst records on labor issues in the entire Legislature. Doris is working hard and she will need all of the support the labor movement can give her.

If you would like to volunteer to support Doris Poland’s campaign for the Maine Legislature, please let Cynthia Phinney - cynthia@maineaflcio.org - know!