Maine governor vetoes bill to allow farm workers to unionize

[demmiblue]

Source: WHDH TV 7 News/AP

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Maine’s Democratic governor has vetoed a bill that would have given farm workers in the state the right to unionize, citing the possibility of heaping new costs on an already struggling agriculture sector.

The Maine Legislature passed the proposal, which called for people working in agriculture to be able to organize for the purposes of collectively bargaining for wages, hours, working conditions and benefits.

But Gov. Janet Mills vetoed the proposal Friday with a message that said she could not “subject our farmers to a complicated new set of laws that would require them to hire lawyers just to understand.”

Maine is the country’s sole producer of wild blueberries, as well as a major producer of potatoes and maple syrup. The largely rural state also has a significant dairy industry and small and midsize farms dedicated to livestock and specialty crops.

Read more: https://whdh.com/news/maine-governor-vetoes-bill-to-allow-farm-workers-to-unionize/

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[James48]

1. No Lobster tourism for me.

I swore off visiting Maine back when the other guy was Governor. Turns out this one isn’t Union worker friendly?

Shame.

[AZLD4Candidate]

2. Principle over party. This is disgusting.

Mills just did corporate interests over workers.

[KentuckyWoman]

28. Actually I respect "principle over party".

I wish we'd see it from the Republican side regarding saving American Democracy.

I don't believe she went "principle over party". It's more like "self preservation over principle". She wants to be governor again and wants the corporate dollars. Workers will have to suffer.

An example of principle over party is Roy Barnes, former Democratic governor of Georgia. There was an opportunity to get that confederate flag OFF the Georgia state flag and he took it. Knowing it would cost him a 2nd term but doing it because it was right. He thought it would be decades before they had another chance. He did not get everything he wanted and it did cost him the election.

[Mawspam2]

3. How many workers were likely to unionize?

It certainly wouldn't be for everyone. Maybe 10%? Blueberry Workers of America? Nope.
United Potato Pluckers? Nope.
Lobstermen of Maine? Yup.

[Alexander Of Assyria]

6. There is this little golden Maine nugget from the potato people...

Mills was right to veto the bill, the Maine Potato Board said Friday.

“Legislation that would restrict the ability to plant, care for and harvest our crops would risk the livelihood of Maine farmers and those employees that rely on the jobs Maine farms provide,” the board said in a statement.

…….

So the very people who plant care for and harvest the crops…the farm laborers who want to maybe unionize…well, actually they don’t want to really unionize cause these same workers would suffer by at the hands of the very union they may want…. ??

If anyone can unravel the logic of Mr. Potato Head Miller’s potato word salad please post here.

[Mawspam2]

10. Who the hell is Janet Mills to stop the United Potato Pluckers

...from negotiating for better working conditions, fairer wages, paid sick time during a pandemic, and employer paid health insurance.

Janet Mills, who has never spent a single day in the fields plucking potatoes, has shown us just who she is. She is in the pocket of Big Spud.

We, The People, in this state, whose motto is 'Dirigo' which is latin for 'I Lead', shall not be denied our rights of free association to organize for our betterment as the United Potato Pluckers of Maine!

[Alexander Of Assyria]

20. Nicely written sir. United Potato Pluckers....Big Spud...tickled the old funny bones, thx.

Allegory ofc, but correct…2022 and folks still fighting for freedom to organize in a collective…it’s as anti democratic as it gets, outside sedition and treason ofc.

[mackdaddy]

24. Of course the Main Potato Board IS a Union of potato growers.

Just like any of these Chambers or other Trade organizations.

Maybe the workers should just call themselves the "Chamber of Potato Harvesters"?

[tirebiter]

4. We worked through this a couple decades ago in California.

So did Nevada. The UFW and supprters are not going away. Better to work this out sooner than later before Republicans add more need to understand the laws.

[Alexander Of Assyria]

5. Not a Maine labour law lawyer but...need law to make unionization legal??

And then a veto to stop…unionization of a single sector?

Are labor laws in Maine stuck in the 19th century, someone forgot to update?

[NYC Liberal]

8. Yes because the NLRA specifically doesn't apply to agricultural workers.

[Alexander Of Assyria]

16. That's ducked up, didn't know that. Third world countries exploit labor this way also.

Example Dominican Republic exploiting sugar cane workers with lower minimum wage than a Dominican grocery clerk, so rich countries can have cheaper sugar…I guess.

These people plant, tend to and harvest our FOOD, the stuff you buy and give money to the grocery clerk for so you can not die.

So ducked up.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

7. If you're anti-union you aren't a Democrat.

Sorry.

[Capt. America]

9. x100000

[JI7]

12. How about police unions ?

[Alexander Of Assyria]

17. NLRB should specifically also exempt police unions...why are ag. workers left without

legal protections every other sector has?

Is it because they are mostly not white, sometimes not American citizens and so they CAN be systematically exploited so…they are?

[pazzyanne]

13. Agree!!! nt

[Sherman A1]

15. Agreed

[Alexander Of Assyria]

18. Yes sir. If I may add...also if anti-union you do not love democracy and freedom.

[pandr32]

27. +1

[Richard58]

11. This is disgraceful!

So the DEMOCRATIC Governor of Maine decided that the people who do the actual WORK on the farms don't have the right to unionize. "It will cost farmers too much money" she said. Oh fuck you lady! I suppose the farm workers should be happy with their measly salaries? Can't cut into the profits now can we? I mean just because the farm workers do all the work why should they get justly paid? I HATE people like this! And she's a Democrat? A Democrat in name only! And who the hell is she to tell the workers they can't unionize?

[Alexander Of Assyria]

19. Landowners own the land, the workers working he land are peasants. When has that ever changed and

when the fk will it?

Cause that is really to me a litmus test of how democratic a nation really is, how it treats its agricultural workers along with how it treats it prisoners.

[JohnnyRingo]

14. Special interest much?

It's sarcastically the mom and pop farms he's looking out for, not the corporations that write checks for re-elections.

Ayuh.

[infullview]

21. Perhaps there's more to this...

After reading her reasons for the veto, I am wondering if this bill was designed to further the interest of big agra. Industrial farming pushed out all of our small meat producers by forcing a bill through that required them to have USDA inspections which put most of them either out of business or selling their product in secret. Farmers could not sell cuts of meat; they could only sell unbutchered. I believe this was eventually changed so they could once again sell specific cuts, but by the time it was repealed it was too late for a lot of farmers.

[cadoman]

29. can't confirm her reasoning, but there are a lot of shenanigans w/butchering

Ranchers can raise the cattle/livestock/whatever (sorry, it's not my area of expertise) but as you say, once it goes to processing the regulations get very dense and I don't know any local ranchers who have their meat locally processed. It's scary.

[Floyd R. Turbo]

22. I had no idea farmers in Maine were so dumb!

“But Gov. Janet Mills vetoed the proposal Friday with a message that said she could not “subject our farmers to a complicated new set of laws that would require them to hire lawyers just to understand.” “

[ForgoTheConsequence]

23. Funny how they can figure out all the complicated tax paperwork.

They seem to be pretty good at knowing how to apply for subsidies and tax-free luxury (Farm Truck) pickups.

[turbinetree]

25. So to hire attorneys to protect people from oligarchies was a bridge to far for this governor....

resign.....seriously.... wouldn't want those pesky workers to have a voice in the matter right....and then using the pandemic as a excuse.....shit everyone is living in a pandemic, wouldn't' want work place safety rules.....

[Evolve Dammit]

26. LeRage is running against her again and she has veered right out of fear of losing. n/t

[infullview]

32. All the hate on this thread for Janet Mills - you don't live here and have no idea what you're

taking about. This state is POOR! Even if they had passed that bill, no farmer here could have afforded to have unionized labor aside from a very FEW industrial farming operations like DeCoster Eggs. Most of these farms are barely hanging on, and we lose more and more of them practically every week. FYI For those of you who are going to try to make an argument that I don't know what I'm talking about, my father-in-law ran a dairy business. He hired people that couldn't find work anywhere else and treated them with respect, gave them insurance, food, sometimes a place to sleep, and an hourly wage. He retired not too long ago well into his 70's because the price paid to farmers for milk got so low he couldn't continue. Big agra from out of state kills local small farms off. End of RANT.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

33. So now big agra workers can't unionize.

Perhaps you need to go back and read more Steinbeck and less Rand.

[infullview]

34. I never said that and you are taking my comments out of context.

First, there isn't any big agra in Maine to speak of. Do you live in this state? I do. Don't be an ass.