Governor Mills Statement Recognizing Labor Day

Augusta, MAINE - Governor Janet Mills issued the following statement in honor of Labor Day 2026:

"Every morning, as the sun rises over Cadillac Mountain, Maine lobstermen are headed out to sea, farmers are tending their fields, nurses are finishing the night shift, and teachers are preparing their classrooms. From the machinists and pipefitters at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery to papermakers at Twin Rivers in Madawaska, Maine people are no strangers to hard work. On Labor Day, we celebrate Maine's working people and honor the generations of workers and labor leaders who fought for fair wages, safe workplaces, and the right to organize."

Over the past eight years, Governor Mills has enacted, expanded, and strengthened protections for workers in Maine, including landmark legislation for earned paid leave and paid family and medical leave, minimum wage for farmworkers, and prevailing-wage protections for project labor agreements. She signed legislation prohibiting pay discrimination based on race, protecting state workers from threats to privatize their jobs, promoting pay equality by discouraging employers from basing wages on an employee's salary history, protecting employees from being required to attend so-called "captive audience" meetings, expanding severance pay requirements, requiring the use of apprenticeship programs on large-scale new energy projects, and strengthening retaliation protections.