AUGUSTA, Maine — More than 200 union workers from across Maine gathered for the AFL-CIO's Labor Lobby Day at the State House on Thursday.
Workers across multiple industries gave support for certain bills in the Legislature that they said would help improve the workplace.
During the event, mill workers expressed support for restricting the use of forced overtime.
Mill worker Eric McLean is part of the United Steel Workers Union. He said over the last five years, his employers have denied time off, and over the past three months, he's worked 60-80 hour weeks because his mill is short-staffed.
He is urging legislators to support LR-576 restricting the use of "force overtime" to improve workplace and public safety. It would limit overtime to a maximum of two hours beyond a regular shift once a week and also require mills to give a seven-day notice to mandate any worker for overtime.
Nurses called for legislation to ensure a patient-to-worker ratio they said would ensure better safety — meaning nurses would care for fewer patients at a time in an effort to improve patient care.
"Unsafe ratios look like patients getting their antibiotics and their insulin hours late because I have five patients and the other ones were more critically ill," Sadie Tirrell, a member of the Maine State Nurses Association, said. "To my patients, I heard you when you told me that this care you're getting is unacceptable."
The bill LD-765 aims to address unsafe staffing ratios and improve patient care.
"I'm constantly being set up to fail in a hospital system that prioritizes saving money over staffing safely," Tirrell said.
Workers also asked for legislation to strengthen their constitutional right to freedom of association, prohibiting employers from discussing their views on politics, religion, and union organizing.
"Workers deserve the right to form unions without fear of employers’ interference…" Michaela Flint, former art museum worker, said.
State workers also called to end the state employee pay gap.
Dean Staffieri, president of the Maine Service Employees Association, said he's worked for the state for more than three decades. He said it's been hard to maintain state services due to understaffing, high turnover, and the challenge of recruiting and retaining workers.
"Start paying state workers comparable to their peers. It's the right thing to do, and it's also necessary for the state to recruit and retain qualified workers," Staffieri said.
He is urging the Legislature to support LR-1090 to fund the state’s reclassification and compensation study and provide funding to close the state employee pay gap.
The topic of strengthening apprenticeship programs for workers going into construction trades was also discussed during Thursday's event.
"What we see out in the field is a lot of inconsistency. What inconsistency leads to is accidents... work that's not as tight and as quality as it needs to be," Jason Shedlock, the president of the Maine State Building Trades Council, said.
In addition to prioritizing safety and increased training, Shedlock said registered apprentices need to be able to get a job that has fair wages.
"There's no scenario in which taxpayers should be funding registered apprenticeships that make sure that workers have to be on state assistance afterward because they don't make enough of a wage," he said.