The state highway crew camp is seen Wednesday on state Route 4 in North Jay. Union workers have filed a grievance against the state claiming the decision to reassign them to Dixfield or Farmington is retaliation for their complaints about a hostile and unsafe work environment that created difficult work conditions, according to union officials. Donna M. Perry/Sun Journal

JAY — More than 200 people have signed a petition asking state Department of Transportation officials to rescind its decision to close a crew maintenance camp on state Route 4 in North Jay, according to a union representative.

Members of Local 1989 of the Maine Service Employees Association-Service Employees International Union filed a grievance in early January, claiming the decision is in retaliation for workers complaining to management and human resources about a hostile and unsafe work environment that created difficult work conditions at the site.

The state did not comment on the grievance, and as of Tuesday, no date had been set for it to be heard.

State workers at the Jay camp were notified Jan. 27 that the facility would be closed after decades of operation, and they would be reassigned to either the Dixfield or Fairbanks Village camp in Farmington in March. The facility could be a site during the summer for bridge maintenance crews. The salt and sand operations will remain open.

The state maintains it is always looking for efficiencies that sometimes “involves closing a facility and reassigning personnel based upon current staff and operational need. There are three plow routes served by the Jay camp. We notified employees on January 27 that they would be reassigned to adjacent facilities in March,” DOT spokesman Paul Merrill wrote in an email earlier this month.

About one-third of the petitioners are either current or former DOT workers and two-thirds are community members, Frankie St. Amand, a field representative for MSEA-SEIU Local 1989, said.

The petition is online at https://tinyurl.com/2u5dvbp5, and available at different places.

St. Amand said she has tried to get DOT representatives to show the cost-savings and efficiencies in the reassignment but has not obtained a hard copy of that information.

Sandy Cautillo, a crew leader who has worked for the DOT for about 20 years, the past 12 years in Jay, said some of the crew brought their concerns about bullying and harassment and an unsafe workplace to the attention of a regional manager on Jan. 6. A co-worker was seriously hurt in August 2024 and was out of work for two or three weeks, she said.

On Jan. 27, they received letters that they were being reassigned, Cautillo said, and were not given an option on which site they were being reassigned to.

Cautillo said she is being reassigned to the maintenance camp in Farmington and her husband, Joe, is going to Dixfield. One crew worker who lived 3 miles from the Dixfield site was being transferred to Farmington, she said.

They are splitting up the crew, Cautillo said, and workers believe it is in retaliation for them complaining about a hostile and unsafe work environment. Some of the complaints were against employees, others were against supervisors, she said.

Cautillo said the Jay crew knows where the difficulties are on their routes when it snows, ices over, or when heavy rains and flooding occurs. They know where to go when bad weather comes in, she said. Being located farther away from the Jay camp is only going to make it more difficult to stay ahead of inclement weather, she said.

Five employees are being reassigned. One worker previously quit and another is retiring, Cautillo said.

The state says there are eight workers and one of them is retiring.

“We at MSEA-SEIU Local 1989 prioritize the safety and well-being of our union members in state service, according to a written statement from MSEA-SEIU Local 1989 President Mark Brunton. “We commend the Jay MaineDOT crew for speaking out together against a hostile work environment.

“MSEA also condemns MaineDOT’s actions: in response to concerns raised by employees, the department chose to shut down the Jay maintenance camp rather than address reports of bullying and unsafe conditions,” he wrote. “Our MaineDOT crews already battle low wages and short staffing across the state. Retaliation against highway crew who work around the clock to keep our communities safe is no way for the State of Maine to treat it’s dedicated employees.”