BDN quotes Scontras in article on ‘right to work’ legislation
The Bangor Daily News cited Charles Scontras, a historian and research associate at the University of Maine’s Bureau of Labor Education, in the article, “LePage’s pay raise offer sways biggest state union to accept ‘right to work’ contract language.” In exchange for a 6 percent pay increase over the next two years, negotiators for the Maine State Employees Association agreed to eliminate the requirement that state employees who choose not to join the union pay a mandatory fee to the union for collective bargaining and other services, according to the article. Attempts to eliminate fee requirements for labor unions in Maine aren’t new, the article states. In 1948, voters at referendum rejected anti-union measures on the ballot 2-to-1, according to a BDN column by Scontras that was published earlier this year. The Sun Journal and Maine Public also published the BDN report.