Unions report that around 100 jobs have been lost due to canceled contracts and a 40 percent decline in apprenticeship applications.”

Augusta, Maine – In case you missed it, Maine is already beginning to feel the negative impacts of Republicans’ dangerous budget bill that passed last month, thanks in part to Collins “key” “pivotal vote” to advance the bill and her failure to use the power and seniority she campaigns on to stop its final passage. As News Center Maine reports, “federal cuts to sustainable energy incentives have stopped many solar projects in the state,” leading unions to report “100 jobs have been lost” already.

Read more:

News Center Maine: Maine electricians sit idle as green energy projects halt amid federal incentive cuts
By Christian Harsa
July 23, 2025

  • Maine has been surging toward its clean energy goals, reaching 50 percent clean energy by 2024, according to the governor’s office. However, federal cuts to sustainable energy incentives have stopped many solar projects in the state.

  • Scott Cuddy, director of membership development at Local Chapter 1253 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union, says there is a lot less work than expected.

  • Cuddy says union workers lost two large jobs that would have employed 40 to 50 workers each. He says that contractors only bid for projects they know their workforce can handle.

  • In an email, Cuddy explained, “losing two big jobs just before the summer building season kicks off means they don’t have other work to send their employees to.”

  • In 2019, Governor Janet Mills signed legislation setting 2050 as the target year for achieving 100 percent renewable energy in Maine. That same year, Maine’s community solar program began. A few years later, President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, which allocated $369 billion over ten years for renewable energy development, pollution reduction, and environmental justice initiatives.

  • Cuddy reports that wages in Chapter 1253 went up 20 percent to $60 an hour.

  • The high wages and consistent work drew workers to the electrician’s trade, says Francis Eanes, executive director of the Maine Labor Climate Council. He says unions have doubled in size over the past six years.

  • “They'd gone from bringing in 5 or ten apprentices a year,” Eanes said. “As recently as a couple years ago, a couple of our locals brought in 65 or 70. This is tremendous growth.”

See more: What Mainers Are Saying: Collins Failed to Use “Her Immense Power” to Stop Harmful GOP Bills; What Mainers Are Saying: “Collins is Out for Herself,” “Betray[ed] Her Constituents,” “Helped Facilitate the Terrible Legislation’s Passage”; What Mainers are Watching and Reading: Maine Dems Call Out Collins for Her Role in Advancing GOP Budget Bill; What Mainers Are Saying: “Collins Bears Full Responsibility,” “Let the Citizens of Maine… Down Big Time” with Passage of GOP Budget Bill; STATEMENT: COLLINS WILL BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR ENABLING BILL THAT WILL GUT MAINECARE AND CRITICAL LIFE-SAVING SERVICES MAINERS RELY ON

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