November 28th, 2023
Wage Empowerment Workshop
For months, Work With Dignity and Political Ed Committee members have been working towards a workers’ rights & organizing training focusing on wage theft, which is one of the biggest problems we’ve seen workers struggle with in Southern Maine in the past few years. It’ll cover common types of wage theft + how we can protect ourselves…
Read MoreOctober 27, 2023
The Fight Against Israeli Apartheid Is A Fight For Freedom For Us All
SMWC stands with Palestine and all people around the world who are taking to the streets, airwaves, and halls of power to demand an immediate ceasefire in Israel/Palestine, and an immediate end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. Demanding a ceasefire comes from an immediate need to stop the loss of life, both Palestinian and Israeli. The…
Read MoreJanuary 9th, 2019
Letter to the editor: Maine lags its neighbors in offering paid sick leave
As someone who has gone without paid sick days at work, I understand how imperative it is that the state set a minimum standard for paid sick leave. Maine is one of only two states in New England that don’t require their employers to provide paid sick days. It is a shame how far behind we are on…
Read MoreFebruary 7th, 2022
Portland to consider reinstating hazard pay for workers
The Portland City Council will discuss bringing back hazard pay on Monday. That would effectively raise the minimum wage for workers in the city. Hazard pay only took effect for a few days at the beginning of the new year but ended with the city’s state of emergency. The new amendment up for debate Monday night…
Read MoreFebruary 4th, 2022
Pandemic calls for us to rethink impossible expectations of teachers
The role of the teacher in this crisis environment has been impossibly expansive: All at once, a teacher may have to serve as a student’s content expert, surrogate parent, social worker, mentor and tech support professional. Before vaccines were available, teachers were at a higher risk of becoming seriously ill from COVID-19. Yet teachers continued to assume…
Read MoreFebruary 1st, 2022
Workers hold rally to call on Portland to reinstate hazard pay
Portland City Councilors are being asked to reinstate hazard pay for minimum wage workers. The hazard pay ended last month when the council terminated the COVID-19 pandemic state of emergency. In 2020, Portland voters approved a new minimum wage that included a hazard pay provision for essential workers during a state of emergency.
Read MoreFebruary 1st, 2022
Portland council will consider whether to restore hazard pay for workers
The Portland City Council will consider whether to bring back emergency hazard pay for workers while the city’s mask mandate remains in effect. “It’s not a perfect solution. It’s not a permanent solution,” said Councilor Victoria Pelletier, who is sponsoring a hazard pay amendment to the mask ordinance. “But it’s at least something so that…
Read MoreJanuary 12th, 2022
USM center will build on historian’s legacy by strengthening labor education
Nine pizza workers recently walked out of a Portland pizza shop because of onerous working conditions; Bull Moose is planning to sell its stores to its employees in an ESOP, and Bates College has filed with the National Labor Relations Board to interfere in an attempt by workers to unionize. These were all stories in the Portland Press Herald on…
Read MoreAugust 25, 2021
The end of the end of us
By Mia Dyson, 2021 And when it comes to the end after the seas have roared over the shoreline and the dunes and the seaside towns after they have lapped salty froth into city streets after the forests have screamed their flaming primal scream howling in agony and despair for…
Read MoreApril 29, 2021
Know Your Rights – Maine’s Earned Paid Leave Law
Conheça seus direitos – disponível em PortuguesConoce tus derechos- Disponible en EspañolConnaissez vos droits: disponible en français What is Earned Paid Leave ?Also known as Public Law 2019 Ch. 156, “An Act Authorizing Earned Employee Leave,” Maine’s Earned Paid Leave law (EPL) went into effect on New Year’s Day 2021, a year and a half…
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