Maine workers union membership swells

AUGUSTA – More than 3,000 Maine workers have voted within the last 14 months to join the Maine State Employees Association, making the union’s current membership drive the most productive since it formed in 1943.

The MSEA is affiliated with the Service Employees International Union, which represents 1.9 million workers across the country, in Canada and in Puerto Rico. The MSEA has 12,000 members, including retirees.

Maine’s growth is part of a larger national effort to unionize workers, according to MSEA Executive Director Tim Belcher.

“Those victories make us, by one count, the fastest-growing local union in the SEIU and the SEIU is the fastest-growing union nationally,” Belcher said.

Membership was bolstered by the addition of 450 employees of Home Care for Maine, who voted this year to join the workers union.