State employees cite latest projected state budget surplus in demanding Mills administration present plan to address understaffing, close pay gap

With the State forecasting an additional $265 million in revenues over the next two years as critical state services remain extremely understaffed, State of Maine workers who have been working under expired contracts for five months are demanding the administration of Governor Janet Mills present in contract negotiations a credible plan to address understaffing and close the well-documented state employee pay gap.

“The Revenue Forecasting Commission yesterday 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, Local 1989 of the Service Employees International Union, 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.”

Studies in 2009 and 2020 both show that state workers are underpaid compared to the wages earned by their public and private sector counterparts throughout Maine and New England. The 2020 study showed that on average, state workers are underpaid by 15 percent, and it’s even worse for many classifications – accountants are underpaid 20 to 33%; chemists, 24%; civil engineers, 20 to 25%; mechanics, 31%; and correctional officers, 16%.”

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.

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The Maine Service Employees Association, Local 1989 of the Service Employees International Union, represents over 13,000 Maine workers and retired workers, including workers in the Executive Branch of Maine State Government.