State workers union ratifies contract, over a year after previous agreement expired

The union for Maine executive branch employees has ratified a new contract, after 20 months of negotiations and over a year after the previous contract expired. 

The contract will expire June 30, 2027, and includes a 4.5% pay increase effective Sept. 1 and a lump sum payment to union members of $2,000 to be paid in October. 

Mark Brunton, president of the Maine Service Employees Association, SEIU Local 1989, said in a statement that the union will continue to push for a job classification study for state employees. 

“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,” Brunton said. “This ratified contract is progress, but our work continues. We’re taking the gains we won together and organizing for the fights ahead.”

The contract also includes a $2,000 childcare reimbursement, three additional days of military leave and an expansion of bereavement leave. 

“We commend MSEA members’ ratification of these new contracts, which demonstrates the Mills administration’s commitment to providing competitive wages and benefits for State of Maine employees,” Elaine Clark, commissioner of the Maine Department of Administrative and Financial Services, said in a statement. 

The agreement comes after the union in June accused the Mills’ administration of negotiating in bad faith. Union leaders said after negotiations proceeded to arbitration, the administration refused to accept recommendations from the independent panel. 

That panel had recommended a 2.5% increase in the first contract year, a 3% increase in the second year and a $1,250 bonus. The ratified contracts offer a 4.5% raise rather than the 5.5% from that report, but the bonus payment for workers is larger. 

The Mills administration has been at odds with the union for years over the ‘pay gap’ between public and private sector workers. State employee wages have lagged behind equivalent private sector jobs, and the union has argued that the gap has led to chronic understaffing at Maine agencies.