Hearings on two logging bills set for Wednesday in Augusta

AUGUSTA – A northern Maine legislator who is a logger in the Maine woods has introduced two bills that would require employers to furnish proof of ownership of equipment before hiring foreign workers and would prohibit foreign labor when the U.S. Department of Labor has not set a prevailing wage for the work.

Hearings will be held at 1 p.m. Wednesday in front of the Committee on Labor at Augusta on LD 730 and LD 1276. The sessions will be in Room 200 of the Cross Building.

Rep. Troy Jackson, D-Fort Kent, hopes that northern Maine loggers will testify at the sessions as they did at hearings on collective bargaining last year.

LD 730 requires that an employer who hires foreign workers under the H2B visa program provide proof of ownership of any equipment that will be used by the employee. The fine for violation would be between $1,000 and $5,000 per violation.

LD 1276 would prohibit the Maine Department of Labor from certifying to the U.S. Department of Labor that no U.S. citizens are qualified or willing to fill open jobs in forestry unless the federal agency has established a prevailing wage for the work.

“I am trying to make the system fairer for workers in the woods,” Jackson said Monday. “It’s an ongoing effort.”

He said LD 730 could cut the number of requests for bonded labor by as much as half. He said lumber companies are asking for operators when they actually want owner-operators, and that is not what the bonded labor program is for.

“Contractors want to bring men and equipment across the border,” he said. “Most contractors don’t own the equipment they are asking operators for.

“It put Maine workers at a disadvantage,” he said. “Most contractors argue there are not enough men to work the woods in Maine, but they mean not enough owner-operators.”

Complaints filed with the Department of Labor have not helped the situation, Jackson explained. The department also will not take complaints from owner-operators.

“The bonded labor program is for workers, and it should not be for the equipment,” he said.

The second bill, Jackson said, is about a long-standing problem. He said the U.S. Department of Labor has not established a prevailing wage schedule for many jobs in the Maine woods. He said a 5-year-old study urged rates for logger jobs and equipment.

“We need good prevailing wages to get good men,” Jackson said. “This will be a hard sell.”