The largest union representing state workers has accused the Mills administration of violating labor law.
The Maine Service Employees Association Local 1989 on Wednesday filed a complaint with the Maine Labor Relations Board accusing the Mills administration of not bargaining in good faith and not following a state law compelling it to complete a pay gap study.
“In our complaint, we’re asking the Maine Labor Relations Board to order the Mills administration to follow state law and our contracts when it comes to completing and implementing the pay and classification study,” said Mark Brunton, president of the MSEA-SEIU Local 1989. “The administration has been dragging its feet for years on this study. Instead of doing its job, the administration is defying the Legislature’s mandate and ignoring its contractual obligations.”
Sharon Huntley, a spokesperson for the Maine Department of Administrative and Financial Services, said that the MSEA’s complaint rested on “faulty legal claims and factual inaccuracies.”
“Importantly, it does not recognize the significant progress made in the compensation of State of Maine employees,” Huntley said Wednesday afternoon.
This volley between the MSEA and the Mills administration comes as nearly 1 in 6 state jobs remain unfilled, something the union has attributed to low pay, while others have pointed to the broader labor shortage afflicting the economy.
The Mills administration contends that it has raised state worker pay by nearly 24 percent over the past five years. That increase is 40 percent higher than the raises provided over the decade before Gov. Janet Mills took office, according to the governor’s office.
A 2020 study found state worker salaries were, on average, 11 percent to 15 percent “below market” for similar positions in the public and private sectors across New England. Some state workers, particularly accountants, civil engineers and mechanics, face a greater gap, the MSEA said.
That study was supposed to be followed by a subsequent review ordered by the Legislature to be completed by the end of January of this year. The new two-year contract inked between the MSEA and the Mills administration last year also included a commitment to complete a new classification and compensation plan.
Kirsten Figueroa, finance commissioner, delivered a report to the Legislature earlier this year suggesting the administration has closed the pay gap, pointing to the 24 percent wage increases over the past five years.
But another analysis, this one from the Maine Center for Economic Policy, contests that conclusion, noting that growth in private sector wages have continued to outpace growth for state public sector workers. Over that same five-year span, private sector wages have risen 35 percent, that report concludes.
In its complaint, the MSEA accuses the Mills administration of “falsely” claiming it closed the pay gap and alleges the administration has not fulfilled its obligation as ordered by the Legislature and as agreed to in the new contract to update the analysis of the 2020 wage study.
Tom Feeley, general counsel of MSEA-SEIU Local 1989, said that the Mills administration has “willfully disregarded” that mandate.
“That’s why we’re asking the Maine Labor Relations Board to order the administration to follow the law and our contracts with respect to the 2020 compensation and classification study,” Feeley said.
Huntley said that the Mills administration remains committed to improving “compensation and benefits” for state workers.
“The Administration is committed to good faith bargaining with the union based on accurate facts and our mutual interest in providing state employees with fair and competitive compensation and benefits,” Huntley said.
