Bill passes legislative committee to give raise to Riverview, Dorothea Dix center employees

The bill will increase the wages of employees by $3 an hour in addition to the four percent raise coming this summer.
Published: Feb. 2, 2022 at 4:39 PM EST
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AUGUSTA, Maine (WABI) - A bill that would increase wages for all employees of Riverview Psychiatric Center in Augusta passed Wednesday with amendments in the Legislature’s Heath and Human Services Committee.

The bill will increase the wages of employees by $3 an hour in addition to the four percent raise coming this summer.

It was amended to include employees at the Dorothea Dix Center in Bangor as well as employees of both center’s outpatient services.

The bill’s sponsor, Senator Seth Berry, says these employees endure unsafe, exhausting, and dehumanizing working conditions, and burnout is becoming a significant factor.

Some members of the committee feared getting involved with a group that’s already in a union as well as leaving out other groups of state employees that fall within the same class as these workers.

”If we start working with this group, then what about other groups that are represented by unions. Then I think we are starting to meddle into union business and the negotiations that can go on at the labor table,” said Sen. Marianne Moore of Calais.

“I think that these workers have gone through an enormous emotional and physical trial and that they are to be acknowledged and they are to be compensated for their hard work,” said Rep. Margaret Craven of Lewiston.

The bill will now go before the full legislature.

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