Applied Research—State of the Unions: Organized Labor in Maine

New Applied Research Report!

The State of the Unions: Organized Labor in Maine, 2022-2024 (2026)

Joseph van der Naald and Kevin Van Meter

"The State of the Unions: Organized Labor in Maine, 2022-2024 provides a look into Maine’s labor movement. The report analyzes both historical and contemporary union membership patterns in the state of Maine, their implications for the conditions of workers and their wages, as well as recent union organizing efforts in the state." The

Key Findings

Union Statistics

• Maine’s public-sector unionization rate is 41.1%, considerably higher than the 2022-2024 national average of 33.6%.

• The industries with the highest rates of unionization are public administration, transportation and utilities, and educational services.

• Some of Maine’s least-unionized industries, health services, wholesale and retail trade, educational services, and leisure and hospitality, employ more than half of all workers in the state.

• Maine union members make $6.00 an hour more than non-members on average.

• The union wage premium is even higher for women workers who earn $6.80 more than their non-union counterparts on average.

• Union membership significantly increases wages for non-college educated workers, who earn $7.03 an hour more than their non-union counterparts on average.

Organizing Surge

• Eight strikes took place in Maine between 2022 and 2024. These included strikes in the service industry, as well as among paper workers and nurses.

Take a read of the report here!

Andy O'Brien of the Maine AFL-CIO wrote a story about the report titled "New Report Finds Maine Union Members Earn $6 Per Hour More Than Non-Union Counterparts" here.

Community Voices for Change on WMPG 99.9FM in Portland, Maine interviewed Joseph and Kevin about the report. To take a listen follow this link and then click on March 16, 2026 for the show. Take a State of the

Unions: Organized Labor in Maine, 2022-2024 The State of the Unions: Organized Labor in Maine, 2022-2024