SENATE DEMOCRATS RECEIVE PERFECT SCORES ON LABOR RECORD

Leaders reaffirm commitment to affordable health care, fair pay, and collective bargaining

AUGUSTA – All 19 Democratic senators received a 100% rating from the Maine State Employees Union for their support of working families during the 126th Legislature.

During the 2013 legislative session, Democratic senators supported the bipartisan, responsible budget crafted by the legislature, and voted to prevent a state shutdown by overriding Governor LePage’s veto of the budget.

“Maine needs a strong economy and a strong middle-class, and that starts with improving the lives of our workforce,” said Senate President Justin Alfond of Portland. “Mainers also deserve a state that is run well and run responsibly. The budget we passed is balanced and responsible. It reflects our values, and it was supported by an overwhelming majority of lawmakers.”

The bipartisan budget, restored nearly two-thirds of the cuts to municipal revenue sharing, increased funding for public education, and restored cuts to programs that help seniors pay for their medicine.

Senate Democrats defeated two harmful so-called “right-to-work” bills (LD 786 and LD 831), which would have weakened collective bargaining rights for Maine workers.

“Maine has opposed so called ‘right-to-work” legislation since 1948. We defeated it two years ago, we defeated it earlier this year, and if we have to, we will continue defeating it,” said Senate Majority Leader Troy Jackson of Allagash. “I am proud to be the majority leader of the most-pro-labor caucus I have served with in my 11 years in Augusta. I know that we will continue fighting for the people who work hard for our state.”

According to the Economic Policy Institute, the average worker in states with “right-to-work” laws makes $1,540 a year less, when all other factors are removed, than workers in other states. In states with “right to work” laws, 26.7 percent of jobs are in low-wage occupations, compared with 19.5 percent of jobs in other states.

Last session, the Senate Democratic Caucus also supported bills to raise the state’s minimum wage in 50 cent increments over the next three years (LD 611), increase access to affordable health care by accepting the federal government’s deal to expand healthcare coverage to nearly 70,000 Mainers (LD 1066), and increase access to low-cost prescription drugs by restoring the popular CanaRx program (LD 171).

“Working people are the backbone of our economy,” said Assistant Senate Majority Leader Anne Haskell of Portland “They work hard, and they deserve to be paid fairly for their work. They deserve to be able to go to the doctor when they are sick without fearing they will go into debt, and they deserve access to affordable prescription medicine.”

The CanaRx bill, sponsored by Senator Jackson, became law earlier this month. Both the minimum wage bill and the healthcare expansion bill were vetoed by Governor LePage.

Under the Affordable Care Act, the federal government has agreed to pay 100 percent of the costs of expanding health care for the first three years, then gradually ratchet down to no less than 90 percent of the cost. Accepting the federal government’s deal would provide access to health care for nearly 70,000 Mainers, many of them hard-working people who do not receive health insurance through their jobs, and do not make enough to purchase it on their own.

“It’s time for Governor LePage to take this deal and stop delaying and denying health care to Maine people,” said President Alfond. “Families in Maine should have a relationship with a family doctor, not the emergency room. We will continue fighting to accept this deal to increase access to affordable health care.”

The Legislature will reconvene in January 2014.

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