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Maine Gov. Wipes Out Labor History

March 24, 2010

Maine Gov. LePage said the labor history mural is not "business friendly."

Is just isn’t enough that Maine Gov. Paul LePage is stripping away workers’ rights in the legislative arena. Now he is also trying to wipe out references to hardworking Mainers from the public sphere.

LePage ordered the removal of a 36-foot-mural depicting Maine’s labor history from the state Department of Labor building in Augusta this week.

Mike Tippling from the Maine People’s Alliance told the Sun Journal:

The LePage administration is going after Maine workers on a bunch of different fronts. I guess ‘Rosie the Riveter’ is just another casualty.

He is also renaming conference rooms in the building now honoring pro-worker advocates like Frances Perkins, President Franklin Roosevelt’s labor secretary.

A LePage spokeswoman said they should be named "after mountains, counties or something."

LePage told the Politico last month that he would "push forcefully ahead with right-to-work legislation in his state, even if it means a Wisconsin-style fight with unions."

LePage has also slashed retirement benefits for public workers, but not before exempting his own pension from cutbacks. 

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