AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — A bill to eliminate the right of workers at the former DeCoster egg farms in western Maine to unionize is working its way through the Legislature.
The Senate on Thursday approved the bill by a narrow 18-17 vote. The bill, which has also received House passage, faces final votes in both chambers.
It eliminates collective bargaining rights for workers at the farms formerly operated by DeCoster Egg Farms. A division of Minnesota-based Lake O'Lakes Inc. has taken over the farms under a lease-purchase agreement.
Republican supporters said no other farm workers in Maine or in the U.S. other than one county in California have the right to unionize.
The Maine AFL-CIO says the bill strips collective bargaining rights from some of Maine's most vulnerable workers.