


The state employees union is asking a few of its members to apply for unpaid leaves of absence from their state jobs, to work on political campaigns this summer and fall. The union pays the eligible person’s salary, at its current rate, and the state pays for health insurance.
Timothy Belcher, head of the Maine State Employees Association, said the leaves of absence are made possible through a voluntary cost-saving program first instituted by the state in the early 1990s as a way to save money.
The union has been using it as a means to recruit campaign workers since the last presidential election four years ago. The program allows a state worker to take an unpaid leave for any reason, if the supervisor believes the employee can be spared, with no questions asked. The goal is to recruit about 15 people, from the ranks of current state employees and retirees. “It won’t be 15 on leaves of absences,” said MaryAnne Turowski, a union spokeswoman, but a blend of current workers and retirees.
Money for the employee’s salary is being provided by the state employees union parent, the Service Employees International Union, Belcher said. “This is something that’s done in unions all across the country,” he said.
An advertisement is being run on the state employee union Web site calling on MSEA-SEIU members to take leave from their jobs to work full time or part time “to elect people who share our values.”
Belcher said that largely means Democrats, including presidential hopeful Barack Obama, although the union has endorsed the rare Republican.
“The reality is that if you look at the voting records and questionnaires we’ve received from the candidates, the issues that our members tell us they care about, like health insurance, benefits and wages, Democrats have been much more supportive,” he said.
Alicia Kellogg, director of human resources for the state, said the voluntary savings leave of absence was first adopted after the government shutdown under Gov. John McKernan.
“It was one of the ways the budget was balanced,” she said. “There’s been enough interest in it each year that it has been maintained.”
Kellogg said the program was budgeted to save about $100,000 in the last two-year budget, and covers everything from people who want to take 10 additional days off during the year to a month or more.
“The decision by the supervisor is operational need only,” she said, without regard for what a person plans to do with the time.
Belcher said it would be inappropriate for management to ask a person what they were going to do with their personal time.
“I think the employer should not be asking what you’re doing on your free time. Whether they’re sunning themselves in Hawaii or going to be working for a political candidate. In a union setting, we would find it very offensive,” for the employer to probe, Belcher said.
As to whether average taxpayers would object if they knew the leave was going to be used for political campaigning, Belcher said there’s a financial benefit.
“We’ve saved him some money by having somebody not work,” Belcher said, with the union versus the state picking up the tab.
The union also recruits employees, using various kinds of leaves, to do internal organizing, such as getting in touch with members about their contracts.
(waldo.villagesoup.com)