Sen. Ingwersen earns high marks from unions for pro-worker voting record

Posted: September 26, 2024 | Senator Ingwersen

AUGUSTA — Sen. Henry Ingwersen, D-Arundel, earned a perfect score from the Maine AFL-CIO for his votes to support working Maine families. Sen. Ingwersen is one of 22 Senators to earn a 90 or perfect score from the AFL-CIO.

“As a career teacher I’m proud to have been a member of the Maine Education Association,” said Sen. Ingwersen. “I witnessed first-hand the power of collective bargaining for fair wages and decent benefits for hard-working Maine teachers in their employment right through retirement. Maine’s unions are a bedrock for our workers in many professions, and when unions thrive we all thrive. As your Senator, I will always support our labor unions”.

Sen. Ingwersen has a long history of supporting Maine workers. As a member of the Legislature’s Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee, he has endorsed initiatives to support Maine farmers and ensuring they have the tools they need to succeed. As the sponsor of LD 1152, “An Act to Require Public Employers to Provide Long-term Disability Insurance Coverage”, which would require MainePERS to offer long-term disability and to pay 100% of the costs of the premiums and any other amounts due to an insurance company. This allows workers to get the support they need to cover daily living expenses.

Maine AFL-CIO, a statewide federation of more than 200 labor unions, based their scorecard on legislators’ votes on 11 bills, including the bipartisan supplemental budget and:

  • LD 1152, “An Act to Require Public Employers to Provide Long-term Disability Insurance Coverage,” sponsored by Sen. Henry Ingwersen, D-Arundel
  • LD 1639, “An Act to Address Unsafe Staffing of Nurses and Improve Patient Care,” sponsored by Sen. Stacy Brenner, D-Scarborough
  • LD 373, “An Act to Improve Labor Conditions for Maine Workers,” sponsored by Sen. Mike Tipping, D-Orono
  • LD 1983, “An Act to Establish the Maine Buy American and Build Maine Act,” sponsored by Pres. Troy Jackson, D-Allagash
  • LD 372, “An Act to Increase Enforcement and Accountability for Wage and Hour Violations,” sponsored by Sen. Mike Tipping, D-Orono

The Maine AFL-CIO represents more than 40,000 Maine workers and retirees delivering public services or working at paper mills, shipyards, hospitals, construction sites, nonprofits, utilities, and in many other industries.

A PDF of the full scorecard can be found here.