Brief: The State of Labor Organizing in Maine

Labor unions are essential in delivering better wages, benefits, and working conditions for all workers, especially women and people of color. Public approval of unions is the highest it has been in 60 years, but the share of workers represented by unions continues to decline, due to outsourcing, free-market economic ideology, and the development of "union avoidance" firms. State lawmakers can empower workers by protecting workers from employer intimidation and extending basic economic rights to agricultural and public sector workers.