BREWER – Labor union representatives and Democratic politicians gathered Monday afternoon at the Eastern Maine Labor Council to gear up for the fall campaign season.

Gov. John Baldacci stopped by on his Labor Day weekend re-election campaign swing that focused on “Maine Values, Hard Work.”

U.S. Rep. Michael Michaud of Millinocket and Jean Hay Bright, who is running against U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, praised the state’s workers and union leaders, and candidates running for the state House and Senate were welcomed with applause.

But battles for the governor’s mansion and seats in Congress and the Legislature aren’t the only fights union members are focusing on this year.

They also are opposing the citizen-initiated Taxpayer Bill of Rights and supporting efforts of nonprofessional hospital workers to unionize at Eastern Maine Medical Center.

“The Eastern Maine Labor Council has a proud tradition of upholding worker rights and advocating for working people in Maine,” the council’s president, Jack McKay, told the 35 or so people who attended the two-hour event. “We take time today to celebrate our rich history while looking forward to the challenges and opportunities of the coming years.”

One of those victories was the contract ratified by workers at Rydbom Express Inc., a subcontractor of DHL, a delivery firm in Brewer and Presque Isle, Steve Husson of Hampden said Monday.

“This is the first time I’ve shaved on Labor Day,” Husson, who is a driver for the Brewer location, told the group. “Thank you for all the help you gave us with DHL last year. What you did went way beyond what we expected.”

Labor council members joined drivers on the picket lines for 13 weeks in Brewer during the winter months last year.

McKay said Sunday that the council would continue to support efforts of nonprofessional workers at Eastern Maine Medical Center to consider the benefits of forming a local bargaining unit within a machinists’ union.

Certified nursing assistants, housekeepers, food service workers, unit secretaries and other nonprofessional employees are among the workers who are looking for “a place at the table” when it comes time to talk about pay, benefits, rules and policies, he has said.

Ron Green Jr., a Bangor firefighter and president of the local union, warned the group that TABOR needed to be soundly defeated at the polls in November. TABOR would limit the growth of spending at the state, county, municipal and school district levels to the annual rate of inflation and population growth.

Green said that firefighters from Colorado, which passed a similar measure several years ago, had warned him at a meeting in Toronto last week of the International Firefighters Association about the negative impact TABOR had in their state.

“It won’t have an immediate impact,” Green said, “but it will eat away at us. Colorado firefighters told us that they had had cuts in wages and health care benefits and trucks were in disrepair.

“When it comes time to balance the budget, they said, municipalities are saying just lay off a few firefighters, a few police officers,” Green continued. “We’re already seeing tough times. Please take a close look at TABOR and work to get rid of it.”

Labor is not just in danger of losing members as mills close and manufacturing jobs are moved offshore, a University of Maine professor warned. Its history also is in peril.

“All too often today, young people don’t know the important role organized labor has played in public policy,” Bill Murphy, director of the Bureau of Labor Education, said. “The Family and Medical Leave Act, workers compensation, unemployment compensation, paid vacations, paid holidays and pensions have benefited organized and unorganized workers. Young people need to know that they have those things because unions have fought for them.”