Maine AFL-CIO opposes the consumer-owned utility referendum

Maine Public | By Carol Bousquet
Published July 27, 2022 at 5:42 PM EDT

The Maine AFL-CIO is opposing the consumer-owned utility referendum, saying a publicly-owned utility would threaten the rights of workers and create uncertainty for consumers.

Union President Cynthia Phinney said the majority of workers at CMP and Versant do not support the proposal, which could prompt a buyout of the two investor-owned utilities and reclassify union workers as public employees.

"If they're public employees they could lose their right to withhold their labor which is a fundamental right that we think all employees should have," Phinney said.

Phinney says legal battles could follow if the referendum passes. Our Power, the coalition behind the referendum, said its proposal protects all of the rights union workers enjoy.

"The threat of legal battles are all the more reason to move forward with this proposal. I would say if that's a talking point for them are relying on fear to keep us from moving forward with bold policy," said Andrew Blunt, a spokesman for the Our Power.

Our Power is currently gathering signatures with the goal of getting the proposal before voters in 2023.

https://www.mainepublic.org/environment-and-outdoors/2022-07-27/mai...

************************************* 


Fair Use Notice: This website may reproduce or have links to copyrighted material the use of which has not been expressly authorized by the copyright owner. We make such material available, without profit, as part of our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, economic, scientific, and related issues. It is our understanding that this constitutes a "fair use" of any such copyrighted material as provided by law. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes that go beyond "fair use," you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Views: 103

Comment

You need to be a member of Citizens' Task Force on Wind Power - Maine to add comments!

Join Citizens' Task Force on Wind Power - Maine

Comment by Stephen Littlefield on July 29, 2022 at 7:34pm

It's a referendum built on a lie, it would not be consumer owned, it would be government owned. Consumers can't come up with 14 billion in financing and all those that want to be in charge are leftist politicians that are out of work. The government would run it just like they take care of the roads, just like they watch their spending so our costs would stay down just like all the laws they past to force the electric companies to purchase wind and solar generated power at 400% to 600% higher cost that they were forced to pass on or go broke. Then the leftists point to that as a reason to take them over, which would be the opening to go full wind and solar raising prices even higher. Please wake up we are being played!!!!

Comment by Dan McKay on July 28, 2022 at 5:35pm

They would have to replace an experienced workforce with green bureaucratic type rookies. What could go wrong?

Maine people don't need to pay for lawyers to fight an unconstitutional takeover of an investor-owned company which begs the question; what do the shareholders of these utility companies think of this crap? 

 

Maine as Third World Country:

CMP Transmission Rate Skyrockets 19.6% Due to Wind Power

 

Click here to read how the Maine ratepayer has been sold down the river by the Angus King cabal.

Maine Center For Public Interest Reporting – Three Part Series: A CRITICAL LOOK AT MAINE’S WIND ACT

******** IF LINKS BELOW DON'T WORK, GOOGLE THEM*********

(excerpts) From Part 1 – On Maine’s Wind Law “Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine if the law’s goals were met." . – Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, August 2010 https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/From Part 2 – On Wind and Oil Yet using wind energy doesn’t lower dependence on imported foreign oil. That’s because the majority of imported oil in Maine is used for heating and transportation. And switching our dependence from foreign oil to Maine-produced electricity isn’t likely to happen very soon, says Bartlett. “Right now, people can’t switch to electric cars and heating – if they did, we’d be in trouble.” So was one of the fundamental premises of the task force false, or at least misleading?" https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-swept-task-force-set-the-rules/From Part 3 – On Wind-Required New Transmission Lines Finally, the building of enormous, high-voltage transmission lines that the regional electricity system operator says are required to move substantial amounts of wind power to markets south of Maine was never even discussed by the task force – an omission that Mills said will come to haunt the state.“If you try to put 2,500 or 3,000 megawatts in northern or eastern Maine – oh, my god, try to build the transmission!” said Mills. “It’s not just the towers, it’s the lines – that’s when I begin to think that the goal is a little farfetched.” https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/flaws-in-bill-like-skating-with-dull-skates/

Not yet a member?

Sign up today and lend your voice and presence to the steadily rising tide that will soon sweep the scourge of useless and wretched turbines from our beloved Maine countryside. For many of us, our little pieces of paradise have been hard won. Did the carpetbaggers think they could simply steal them from us?

We have the facts on our side. We have the truth on our side. All we need now is YOU.

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

 -- Mahatma Gandhi

"It's not whether you get knocked down: it's whether you get up."
Vince Lombardi 

Task Force membership is free. Please sign up today!

Hannah Pingree on the Maine expedited wind law

Hannah Pingree - Director of Maine's Office of Innovation and the Future

"Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine."

https://pinetreewatch.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/

© 2024   Created by Webmaster.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service