Latest news with #MaineAFL-CIO
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
State and national labor leaders highlight outsized impact federal cuts have on veterans
Maine AFL-CIO President Cynthia Phinney (center) and National AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler held a listening session with Maine workers on April 30, 2025. (Photo courtesy of Andy O'Brien/ Maine AFL-CIO) When Scott Surette left the U.S. Marine Corps after serving in the Gulf War, with tours in Iraq and Kuwait, he took a job at the U.S. Postal Service. Like millions of other veterans, he was drawn to the stability of federal employment and benefits, including the military buy back program that allows veteran workers to count military service as a credit towards their retirement. Now, he says, 'the contract we make as a country with veterans is currently being broken.' During a news conference in Augusta on Tuesday, Surette, who serves as president of Branch 122 of the National Postal Mailhandlers Union Local 301, spoke alongside state and national union leaders who highlighted the disproportionate impact that federal cuts will have on veterans. National AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said she's travelled the country to hear from workers impacted by federal cuts. Asked about what she's heard from union members who supported President Donald Trump, she said that his recent executive order that ended collective bargaining rights for federal unions was a wake up call for many. 'And so whether you're in the federal sector, public sector, the private sector, this injury to one is an injury to all is really starting to take hold within our labor movement,' Shuler said. 'And I think working people broadly see what's on the horizon.' Cynthia Phinney, president of the Maine AFL-CIO, pointed out that with an estimated 106,000 veterans, Maine has the highest concentration of any state in the nation. And nationally, roughly one in three federal workers is a veteran. She said widespread federal worker layoffs, including the Trump administration's reduction in force plan to return staffing at the Department of Veterans Affairs to 2019 levels, which could cut more than 80,000 jobs, is a 'betrayal of the promise we made to men and women in uniform.' Pointing out those layoffs would amount to 15% of the total staff of the VA, Surette said, 'We know what that will mean. It'll mean delays in veterans seeking care. It will mean delays in receiving benefits. It'll mean harm to veterans. It'll mean a decline in the quality of care veterans receive. It will mean a promise broken. And as a veteran, that is just plain wrong.' Liz Harkins, who works in the Veterans Benefits Administration and serves as tri-state president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 2604, representing more than 1,600 employees across New England, said VA employees are 'essential workers' who deliver critical health care, essential benefits and other services to 'ensure that every veteran receives what they have rightfully earned.' She said since the 2022 signing of the Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxins (or PACT) Act, which expanded health care coverage and benefits for veterans exposed to toxic substances like Agent Orange and open-air burn pits, the agency has seen an 'unprecedented surge' in the number of veterans being served. Noting that VA staff are 'already operating under staffing constraints,' Harkins said the proposed layoffs 'will have devastating consequences,' causing further delays in both health care and processing services. The event Wednesday came on the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War. It also marked the conclusion of a two-week long listening session organized by the national AFL-CIO. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
18-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Social Security workers in Maine raise alarm over DOGE's plan to cut jobs, shutter offices
Social Security claims specialists Christine Lizotte (left) and Ray Thompkins (right) retired Lewiston resident Kathy Davis. All three shared their concerns about proposed cuts to the Social Security Administration at a press conference organized by the Maine AFL-CIO on March 18, 2025. (Photo courtesy of Maine AFL-CIO) Social Security Administration employees in Maine are raising the alarm about the impact that proposed cuts — including the possible closure of an office in Presque Isle — would have on the 355,000 Maine people who rely on the program. During a press conference in Hallowell on Tuesday, 73-year-old Lewiston resident Kathy Davis, who is completely dependent on her monthly Social Security check, called on Maine's congressional delegation to 'not bow and cower to political pressure' but stand up to Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE. The Trump administration has announced plans to cut up to 12% of the Social Security Agency's workforce, at a time when its staffing is at a 50-year low. It has also floated closing several offices, including the only office in Aroostook County, and eliminating the agency's phone support service. Andy O'Brien, communications director for the Maine AFL-CIO, pointed to Musk's repeated comments that Social Security is a 'Ponzi scheme,' describing it as 'scare tactics and false claims meant to discredit the agency, which has never missed a payment in the over 85 years it's been around.' The agency has been 'tremendously successful at keeping 22 million people out of poverty,' O'Brien continued, saying that it's not just for retirees but also serves as a 'life insurance program for survivors and a social safety net for millions of people with disabilities.' At the press event, workers emphasized how devastating DOGE's proposals would be. Christine Lizotte, a claims specialist and Secretary Treasurer of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 1164, explained the importance and complexity of the work. Despite that, she said agency workers are 'constantly asked to do more with less.' Should more of her colleagues get fired or accept buyout offers, 'the rest of us will shoulder the workload,' she said. 'That's why we are greatly concerned that the DOGE team is pressuring the administration to make deep cuts in staff,' Lizotte said, 'that will delay payments, cause more errors and could even crash the whole system within months.' Davis said after paying into the system for 46 years, she now has several medical conditions that prevent her from working, making her completely dependent on the less than $2000 a month that she receives from Social Security. 'It really is very frightening to think that I could have that all taken away from me,' she said of concerns that the agency will collapse from the disinvestment. 'Without that meager amount of money, I would be on the street, I'd probably be dead.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
