Governor Mills Statement Honoring Labor Day

Governor Janet Mills issued the following statement in honor of Labor Day 2025:

"Throughout history, Maine people have stood up and stood together to improve the lives of working men and women. As Governor, I have been proud to stand with workers, advocates, and Maine people to enhance safety and fairness in the workplace, expand training, apprenticeships, and good-paying job opportunities, and make historic investments in the things working families need, like health care, education, and housing. On Labor Day, let us honor the hardworking men and women across Maine who make our state the best place in the country to live, work, and raise a family."

Throughout her time in office, Governor Mills has worked to strengthen protections for Maine's working people, including signing legislation:

• creating a statewide paid family leave program;
• expanding wage protections;
• strengthening retaliation protections;
• expanding severance pay requirements;
• prohibiting pay discrimination based on race;
• protecting employees from being required to attend so-called "captive audience" meetings;
• requiring a prevailing wage be paid on school and municipal projects with public funding of $50,000 or more;
• protecting state workers from threats to privatize their jobs;
• requiring the use of apprenticeship programs on large scale new energy projects;
• promoting pay equality by discouraging employers from basing wages on an employee's salary history

Through collective bargaining, the Governor has also improved the wages of State of Maine employees by at least 24 percent, more than the last five governors combined. The Governor spoke about the importance of Labor Day in her weekend Radio Address.