The largest labor union for state employees accused the Mills administration of "bad-faith" bargaining in a formal complaint filed Monday with the Maine Labor Relations Board.
The Mills administration, in turn, defended itself with what an official described as "unfortunate claims" filed one day before the two sides were slated to discuss one sticking point in the months-long negotiations.
In its complaint, the Maine State Employees Association-Service Employees International Union Local 1989 claimed the Mills administration prematurely cut off negotiations on a host of outstanding issues, including changes to worker reclassifications. The current two-year contracts expired on June 30 and the two sides met roughly a dozen times since June.
But the administration officially declared an impasse in late-September and tried to move toward mediation. On Monday, Mark Brunton, president of the MSEA-SEIU Local 1989, accused the administration of repeatedly dragging out negotiations.
"And after a year of trying to get the administration to negotiate in good faith for our contracts, last month the administration chose to declare this premature impasse without even bothering to discuss a third of the proposals that we put forward," Brunton said. "They simply refuse to listen to our members and respond to their concerns.”
The union, which represents about 10,000 workers in the four "bargaining units" that are part of these negotiations, wants the Maine Labor Relations Board to order the administration to return to the bargaining table.
But Sharon Huntley, spokesperson for the Maine Department of Administrative and Financial Services, said the administration was surprised by the complaint because the parties were expected to discuss issues on Tuesday to discuss the reclassifications issue. Huntley said the state disputes each allegation in the complaint.
"The state has not engaged in regressive bargaining and has been clear on its priorities throughout negotiations and made adjustments to the reclassification article proposal as part of good-faith movements to reach an agreement," Huntley said in a statement.
Brunton and the union accused the Mills administration of not doing enough to close a pay gap between workers for the state and those in the private sector. During the past five years, that pay gap has only shrunk from 15% to 14%, which the union said has led to persistent under-staffing and retention issues.
“1% progress in five years is, quite frankly, ridiculous," MSEA-SEIU vice president Kevin Russell said in a statement. " The administration can, and must, do better."
But Huntley said average wages of state employees have increased 24% since Democratic Gov. Janet Mills took office in 2019, amounting to more than $1 billion in additional compensation.
"The governor has supported these increases, and other significant benefit improvements, because they’re good for state workers, and by extension, good for the people of Maine," Huntley said. "The administration will continue to negotiate with MSEA and defend itself against these unfortunate claims before the labor relations board."
This is the seventh "prohibited practice complaint" in five years filed by the union.
