Mills administration agrees to give unionized state workers $2K payments

The largest union representing state workers has reached an agreement with the Mills administration resolving its complaint alleging labor law violations .

Under the agreement announced Thursday morning, the Mills administration will make a one-time lump-sum payment of $2,000 to the 9,000 state workers represented by the Maine Service Employees Association Local 1989 and to conduct an in-depth study of the state employee classification and compensation, according to the Maine Department of Administrative and Financial Services.

Those lump-sum payments will be made beginning in October.

That study will be delivered to the financial services department by Dec. 31, 2025. The MSEA and state will begin negotiating over the study’s findings and recommendations beginning May 1, 2026. The department will then submit a report to the Legislature about the process, the study’s findings and recommendations, and its next steps by Sept. 1, 2026.

“I am proud of and happy with the agreement we have reached. It embodies the Governor’s longstanding belief that conversation is better than litigation,” Kirsten Figueroa, the department’s commissioner, said in a Thursday statement.

“Our goal, from the beginning of the Governor’s time in office, has been for State of Maine government to succeed as an Employer of Choice, which includes providing competitive wages and benefits that can match the reward provided by serving the people of Maine,” she said.

In a Thursday statement to the Bangor Daily News, Mark Brunton, president of the MSEA, called the agreement “a step in the right direction” toward solving the “staffing crisis” in the state government.

“Implementing a new compensation and classification system for state workers would go a long way toward Maine State Government providing the quality services Maine people deserve. Our members have been advocating for this for years, and we’ll keep advocating for it until it is implemented,” Brunton said.

In its complaint , filed with the Maine Labor Relations Board in February, the MSEA accused the Mills administration of not bargaining in good faith and not following a state law compelling it to complete a pay gap study.

Sharon Huntley, a spokesperson for the Department of Administrative and Financial Services, said at the time that the MSEA’s complaint rested on “faulty legal claims and factual inaccuracies,” adding that the union didn’t recognize the “significant progress” made in improving pay for state workers.

That complaint came as Maine saw nearly 1 in 6 state jobs going unfilled, something the union attributed to low pay, while others pointed to the broader labor shortage afflicting the economy.

The Mills administration contends that it has raised state worker pay by just over 24 percent . 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.

Figueroa, the finance commissioner, delivered a report to the Legislature earlier this year suggesting the administration has closed the pay gap, pointing to the 24.1 percent wage increases over the previous five years.

But another analysis , this one from the Maine Center for Economic Policy, contested that conclusion, noting that growth in private sector wages have outpaced growth for state public sector workers. Over that same five-year span, private sector wages have risen 35 percent, that report concluded.

“The reality is that despite the pay increase for state workers over the last few years, many other employers have competed much harder than the State for workers and offered wages that are more competitive than Maine State Government. The State simply hasn’t kept up in terms of competitive wages, and we see it in every state department,” Brunton said in a statement.

The new contract reached between the MSEA and Mills administration included a 6 percent across-the-board increase in the paycheck nearest to Jan. 1, 2024; a 3 percent increase in the paycheck nearest to July 1, 2024; an additional 4 percent pay step; an $800 lump-sum payment in lieu of retroactive pay; minimum 7 percent pay increase on promotion; an additional two weeks of paid parental leave; 40 hours of bereavement leave; an increased child care stipend up to $2,000; and improvements to expenses, mileage reimbursement and more.

On Thursday, the Department of Administrative and Financial Services said more than half of the state workers represented by the MSEA are eligible for the new pay step, which would bring their cumulative wage increases under the Mills administration to 29 percent.