Union bill faces intense debate
Legislators heard public testimony until late last night on a bill that would free nonunion state employees from paying union fees.
Currently, public employees are not required to join a union, but must pay fees to the union if they benefit from contract negotiations and labor disputes, according to the Bangor Daily News. Under LD 309, payment of those fees would be made voluntary. About 8,000 public employees are dues-paying union members, while another 2,780 pay only service fees. Opponents of the bill argue workers who benefit from union negotiations should pay their fair share, while supporters say nonunion members shouldn't be forced to pay fees to an organization they don't necessarily support.
At a public hearing last night before the Labor, Commerce, Research and Economic Development Committee, 55 people signed up to testify on the bill, with only 10 supporting it. Opponents argued the bill would cause division among state workers and weaken unions, and that how unions are paid should be decided by the state and state workers during contract negotiations, not by the Legislature.
The committee is scheduled to hold a work session on the bill Monday. A similar measure, LD 788, which would have ended a provision that requires private-sector workers who do not join a union to pay dues, was postponed indefinitely, according to the Maine Public Broadcasting Network.
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