Bangor residents and labor leaders press council over comp time, vacation disparity for municipal workers

At the Jan. 27, 2025 meeting of the Bangor City Council, residents, union leaders and labor organizations urged councilors to address what they described as unequal treatment of union municipal workers, particularly public works and airport staff.

Speakers said the city offered a week of vacation to nonunion employees while telling union workers they must obtain the same benefit through collective bargaining and potentially give up comp time to do so. Adam Good, legislative and political director for the Maine AFL-CIO, said the city’s approach amounted to a “classic divide and conquer tactic, designed to limit the power of workers who take collective action to form a union and to negotiate and enforce collective bargaining agreements.”

The comments came from several people who identified themselves as employees or union representatives: Chris Nyle, chair of Local 926 for public works, said management had rewritten parts of the employee handbook and given the week of vacation to nonunion staff while directing union members to bargain for changes. “They just broke the book and gave it to their nonunion people, and they’re telling us, union people, we have to go to the negotiation table and negotiate it into our contract instead of being given something that we were told was citywide policy,” Nyle said.

Other speakers emphasized recruitment, retention and safety concerns. Brian Markey, who said he plows snow for the state, described comp time as “invaluable” for recruitment and for employees who must work long or irregular shifts. He said comp time helps employees manage family needs and tax burdens tied to overtime pay.

Councilors and other elected officials acknowledged the volume of testimony. Councilor Leonard said multiple department directors had reported being unable to speak candidly about workplace concerns and described the public testimony as a growing pattern. Councilor Trumbull, speaking during the meeting, thanked staff and advocates for their work and highlighted that the issue of preserving public services and affordable staffing was important to the city’s operations.

Councilor Chumka (Chair) said it would be “inappropriate to comment on the specifics about this union issue” in open session, but requested that the council receive an update in executive session before the next council meeting so members could be “brought up to speed” on the concerns raised by employees and union representatives. Several speakers urged the council to take additional steps to retain workers and to avoid policies they said were driving staff shortages.

The public comment block included other residents and organizational representatives who linked the staffing concerns to broader service impacts, including reduced bus service and public-safety implications during severe weather. The council did not take immediate policy action at the meeting but agreed to gather more information and pursue further review and briefing for councilors.