‘Many of our colleagues qualify for SNAP, Medicaid and heating assistance; restore the $56 million taken from the state employee salary budget’

MSEA-SEIU Penobscot Chapter President Amanda Roy asks state legislators attending the Eastern Maine Labor Council and Food AND Medicine’s 17^th Annual Legislative Breakfast on March 21 in Brewer to restore the $56 million taken last year from the State’s Salary Plan, so that the funding can be used to help close the state employee pay gap. Seated from left: Senator Mike Tipping, Senator Chip Curry, Representative Laurie Osher, Representative Ambureen Rana, Representative Dani O’Halloran, Representative Sean Faircloth and Representative Amy Roeder.

Good morning, everyone. My name is Amanda Roy. I am a proud member of the Maine Service Employees Association, SEIU Local 1989. I am also the newly elected President of the Penobscot Chapter. Our chapter includes workers from both the Maine Department of Transportation and Department of Health and Human Services.

I am grateful to be a part of the union alongside my colleagues because I believe in the power of a union. I wholeheartedly believe that when we stand together, fight, we can and will win. I know these fights take time. They take trust. They require great courage, the refusal to back down when management continues to mistreat subordinates. They require the need to speak truth to power, and holding that power accountable, when the need arises. Currently, there are over 10,000 workers, 10,000 people who are working under an expired contract with the State of Maine. My husband and I are only two of those thousands. We are currently nine months without a contract because the Mills administration refuses to offer wages that keep up with the cost of living and the affordability crisis that we are experiencing.

Workers everywhere are struggling; state workers are no different. We know that many of our colleagues qualify for SNAP, Medicaid and heating assistance, even though they may be working 2 or 3 jobs, just to keep the bills paid and lights on. I am requesting that you all work to use the state’s surplus to restore the $56 million worth of funding that was taken away from the state employee salary budget in 2025, because the legislature increased the attrition rate for state employees. Along with this, $68 million was taken away from the Highway Fund, despite there being a 25% vacancy rate already among Transportation worker positions.

Since I began my career at the MDOT-Region 4 Office in April of 2025, I have seen firsthand how the state employee pay gap and working conditions have impacted both new and existing employees of the Department. In my current position as an Office Associate II and working the front desk reception, I have met and had the honor of engaging with my colleagues on a daily basis. During these conversations, topics of low morale, noncompetitive wages, issues with the increasing costs of healthcare and insurance premiums often dominate the conversations.

Something that I wasn’t expecting when starting at MDOT, was the longevity of majority of the employees, the longest in our region being over 50 years of service and for some, this may be the only job they ever hold. I’m afraid that with the direction that we are headed, conditions will worsen along with losing some of our most knowledgeable and experienced workers continuing to leave state positions for private sector employment, simply because they are paid more and treated better. Workers feel especially down when they see consultants, hired by the state, working alongside them, doing the same exact job; however, the consultant makes substantially more money on the taxpayers’ dime.

In my personal life, I’m also the extremely proud wife of a MDOT Snowfighter, who has worked there for over the past four years.I have experienced the holidays without him at our Christmas dinner table, the sleepless nights when I’m worried for him being out in dangerous storms, and witnessed the visible exhaustion as he walks in after a long hot day in the heat. I

have heard the frustrated grumbling as he comes home from his 20-30 hour winter work day of keeping Maine roadways open; keeping the roads plowed and safe for first responders, our neighbors and your constituents to travel on.

We are a small family who live well within our means because right now, it’s simple. We have to, it’s survival. While we both work two full time jobs, there are still times when we have to choose whether we pay the heating bill or put food on the table. It means making those incredibly difficult decisions to either pay for medications or pay for the gas to make it to work. Choices, honestly that we as state employees, should have to never face. We are closer to being on governmental benefits than we are to being a financially stable household. We are not alone.

Sadly, I witnessed firsthand how the deaths of two of our brothers impacted those who do the same jobs as them everyday and those who knew them personally. As you can imagine, I take great pride in my position here at MDOT and live both personally and professionally by our motto: Integrity, Competence, and Service. Our roles are essential to “Keep Maine Moving”, it would be validated by having a ratified contract and fair wages that reflect that gratitude and appreciation. You all have the power to put us on the right track. We need your support and we cannot do this without your help and vote. Please return the money to these departments, so we can move to close this state employee pay gap, allow a fair contract to be signed, and restore greater pride in the work we do to keep our communities safe and moving.

To close, many of you know that for decades, state workers have been underpaid and overworked, all while battling low staffing retention rates and nearly demolished morale. Today is the day you can make that choice of change that so many in the past have not made. Today you can choose to do better because you now know better. So I ask you, under your watch, what will history say when they look back at your tenure in government, that you stood by and allowed it, or you did the right thing and vote to return the money to those who it has directly impacted and affected, to the workers who quite literally keep Maine moving? Thank you.