AUGUSTA — Senate President Troy Jackson, D-Allagash, earned a perfect score from the Maine State Employees Association for his 2021 voting record to support state workers and public employees. 

“Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, working Mainers have been there for not just their communities but the entire state. This is especially true of our state workers and public employees, whether it’s the public health professionals at the CDC who have worked around the clock to keep us all healthy, teachers and the Department of Education who’ve worked to find creative ways to keep our kids on track and fed, or the plow truck drivers at the Department of Transportation who work through winter storms to clear our roads and keep us all safe,” said President Jackson. “I’m proud to have shown up for our state workers in the Legislature the same way they show up for us every day. I will continue pushing to improve their working conditions and ensure they can secure contracts in good faith.”

As former chair of the Legislature’s Labor Committee, President Jackson has a long history of supporting and championing Maine workers. This year, he introduced legislation to promote good-faith negotiations in public sector employee contracts. The bill would have made the arbitration process binding. Despite passing both the Senate and House, the measure was vetoed by the governor. 

MSEA scored six votes, including the Back to Basics Budget and the bipartisan biennial state budget. President Jackson was one of 20 state senators to earn a perfect score from MSEA. For more information about the votes scored by MSEA, visit www.mseaseiu.org. 

MSEA represents 13,000 Maine workers at the Maine Community College System, the Maine Military Authority, Maine Maritime Academy, Maine Turnpike Authority, Maine Public Employees Retirement System, York County Government, the City of Lewiston, Lewiston Schools, the City of Auburn, Preble Street, Child Development Services, the Governor Baxter School for the Deaf/Maine Educational Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, the Maine People’s Alliance, the ACLU of Maine, the American Red Cross in Bangor,  Planned Parenthood in Maine, Green Valley Association in Patten, Treats Falls House in Orono, and workers in all three branches of Maine State Government.

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