
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
You may have seen in the news that the Legislature has
wrapped up almost all of their work in Augusta for the year. They will
be back in for two more days to vote on overriding Governor LePage's
vetoes, including an expected veto of the State Budget.
We wanted to provide a quick update on key issues. I'm
so excited to let you know that thanks to all your work, we were able
to defeat the so-called right to work bill and the other attacks on
collective bargaining at the State House this year.
Here's the FINAL RESULTS on our key bills (Click for
roll-call votes to see how your Rep and Senator voted. On all of these
votes, a YES is with us, NO is against us)
LD 489 (so-called Right to Work
for private and public sectors) Defeated in the House
90-52,
Defeated in the Senate
21-14.
LD 404 (ban on payroll
deduction dues payment for public sector union members) Defeated in the
House
90-51.
Defeated in the Senate
23-12.
LD 1319 (prohibits negotiating
administrative/ union leave time for public sector) Defeated in the House
86-56.
Defeated in the Senate
23-12.
LD 1431 (Right to Work
"Zones") Defeated in the Senate
19-16. No
House roll call.
LD 1010 (makes
subcontracting and privatization no longer a legal subject of
bargaining in the public sector) has still not been voted on. Its
quite possible the Legislature will ultimately adjourn without ever
voting on it, which would mean the bill would be dead. We will continue
to watch to ensure this happens.
Thank you for all you did over the past months to ensure
this victory. We set out to defeat all of these bills with strong
bi-partisan votes in both chambers, and we did. This sends a clear
message to our foes that there is no appetite for their union busting
antics in Maine.
Holding our elected officials accountable is incredibly
important. We need to thank those that stood with us and express
our disappointment with those who voted against us. Please take a
moment to let them know how you feel about their votes.
We will be sending out our Annual Working Families
Legislative Scorecard again this year in September. This will give full
roll call votes for a number of bills that matter to Maine working
families. It's an important tool for accountability. We are asking
local unions to sponsor the scorecard so stay tuned.
State Budget:
The bipartisan State budget that passed both chambers
will be vetoed by Gov. LePage in the coming days. The Legislature
will return on Tuesday June 30 to vote to override the Governor's
veto.
The budget includes some positives for working people:
- $6.5 million a year to fund pay raises for
Department of Corrections officers to help improve recruitment and
retention and address under staffing.
- $62 million a year for Municipal Revenue Sharing to
Maine communities that will help keep property taxes low and fund
roads, schools, and public safety.
- Increased investment in public education to support
Maine students, schools and teachers.
- Doubling of the Homestead Exemption which will help
keep property taxes down.
At the same time, this budget does considerable harm to
immigrant workers and families and weakens some key tools to achieve
tax fairness.
Stopping Corporate Fraud & Abuse:
One issue we've been watching closely this session is
legislation to get Maine people's money back from corporate raiders and
Wall Street con-men who fleeced Maine taxpayers for more than $30
million through the State's New Markets tax credit program. Out
of state financiers used sham transactions and one day loans to get tax
credits for investments they never actually made. You can read a great
editorial by USW 900 member and State Senator John Patrick in the
Bangor Daily News here on this
issue. Unfortunately Maine Senate Republicans voted to reject a bill
that would have reformed this program and recouped taxpayer
dollars.
Thanks for all that you do!
In solidarity,
Matt and the Maine AFL-CIO
Maine
AFL-CIO • 21 Gabriel Drive, Augusta, Maine 04330
• www.maineaflcio.org • facebook.com/maineaflcio
PAID
FOR AND AUTHORIZED BY AFL-CIO WORKING FAMILIES NETWORK
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