The BDN Opinion section operates independently and does not set news policies or contribute to reporting or editing articles elsewhere in the newspaper or on bangordailynews.com
Charles Riggs II of Bangor is a member of the Maine Service Employees Association, Local 1989 of the Service Employees International Union. He works as a facilities maintenance specialist for Eastern Maine Community College in Bangor.
With record student enrollments, all seven of the Maine Community College System’s campuses are bursting with activity. You’d think everything is hunky-dory, but you’d be wrong. The college system is hemorrhaging workers, primarily due to low wages.
I work full time as a facilities maintenance specialist for Eastern Maine Community College. I’m approaching my second year in April and earn $16.94 an hour — plus 30 cents an hour for working nights.
I have two daughters, one 3 months old, the other 3 years old. My fiancé is unable to work due to a disability; she provides child care while I’m working. I don’t own a car. I can’t afford payments or insurance. I can’t afford dependent health insurance costing $300 every two weeks.
I barely take home more than $1,000 every two weeks. My monthly rent is $885. All of my teeth are rotting, and I can’t afford a dentist. I shouldn’t have to choose between my family and my teeth.
It’s infuriating. I’m working full time and relying on food stamps and MaineCare to support my family because my employer doesn’t pay me enough.
One of my co-workers had to move in with his mom; he can’t afford to live on his own. Many of my co-workers are working two jobs while upper management staff on average earn six-figure salaries.
The work is endless. But due to many resignations across the system, there aren’t enough workers to provide services that students need. There are a lot of old buildings at EMCC that need work, but other tasks are prioritized, so it’s bandage after bandage.
A primary reason for the understaffing and the low wages is that the community college system has frozen “merit pay” increases since 2009. Historically, community college workers who had satisfactory work performance would receive an annual 3 percent merit pay increase over their first eight years of service. During the Great Recession, the community colleges froze merit pay increases; the Maine Legislature froze them for state workers as well.
Back then, this was viewed as a temporary measure to help avoid layoffs due to state budget cuts. However, despite a strong economic rebound over the last 15 years and record student enrollment, and despite state workers getting their merit pay restored since July 1, 2014, via the state budget bill, LD 1843, the community college system has refused to lift the merit pay freezes.
We’re now in our ninth month of working under an expired contract. My co-workers and I are asking management to unfreeze our merit pay for two years, and to provide raises that reflect the cost of living. Our last pay raise was in 2022.
I believe in the college system’s mission. I studied at EMCC and met my fiancé and my best friend there. As I clean the sawdust out of Main Hall from the building construction technology program, I’m glad to know its graduates and those of other EMCC programs like refrigeration and heating, and electrical technical automation, at age 21 can earn minimum prevailing wages of $37.58 an hour as electricians, $33.75 an hour as millwrights, or $30.08 as heating and air condition and refrigeration mechanics and installers — all in Penobscot County. So they can start their careers earning more than twice what I’m paid after nearly two years at EMCC.
I believe the Maine Community College System must stop its race to the bottom on wages. It should start paying us a living wage — and maybe someday, full-time workers won’t have to rely on food stamps and MaineCare to survive.
