Member Weekly Update - Feb. 28, 2025

Welcome to this week’s update from the Professional Logging Contractors of the Northeast! We have important news and events to share that are vital for your business and the logging community. Let’s dive into what’s happening this week:

GENERAL NEWS & EVENTS

✔ RSVP TODAY for Maine Legislative Breakfast and full PLC Board Meeting March 6!
✔ Register Now for Northeast Professional Logger Spring Safety Training!
✔ PLC 30th Anniversary Annual Meeting – Reserve rooms now!
✔ Logger’s Voice Winter Edition

MAINE NEWS & EVENTS

✔ Maine Paid Family & Medical Leave Update
✔ Maine News Clips

VERMONT NEWS & EVENTS

✔ Vermont Legislative Update
✔ Vermont Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Report
✔ Vermont News Clips

SAFETY & EDUCATION

✔ MDOL Safety Classes
✔ Small First Aid Pack
✔ Crew First Aid Pack
✔ Northeast Safe Logger

MEMBER BENEFITS

✔ Cost Calculators
✔ PLC Store
✔ Member Discounts

RSVP by TODAY, Feb. 28 if you have not already!

Join us for a Legislative Breakfast and full PLC Board/Member Meeting next Thursday, March 6 beginning at 7:00 AM.

All members are invited to enjoy breakfast and engage in important policy discussions for the 2025 Maine legislative session, free of charge.
Following the breakfast, we will hold a PLC Board/Membership Meeting, and luncheon. All members are encouraged to attend.

Details:

Date & Time: Thursday, March 6 at 7:00 am
Location: The Governor Hill Mansion 136 State St Augusta, ME

RSVP HERE

If you prefer to register on paper, click the button below to download a registration form! If you have questions, please email office@plcloggers.org or call (207) 688-8195!

PLC 30th Anniversary Annual Meeting May 8-9 – Save the Date and Book Rooms Now!

It is time to block off your calendar for the PLC’s 30th Anniversary Annual Meeting, being held May 8-9 at the Samoset Resort in beautiful Rockport Maine! This is a free event for all PLC Members so don’t miss out! Book rooms now!

Hotel discounts available while space lasts

The Samoset Resort – Starting at $179 per night (Rates available for 5/8 & 5/9)
220 Warrenton St, Rockport, ME 04856
(866) 258-7247

***If you only plan to stay 1 night, be sure to adjust the dates accordingly***

Questions? Email office@plcloggers.org

Reserve Rooms Here

The Logger’s Voice Winter 2025

Read The Logger’s Voice

Maine News

Paid Family & Medical Leave Authority Public Hearing Recording now Available

AUGUSTA – The Maine Paid Family and Medical Leave Benefits Authority held a public hearing at the Maine Department of Labor’s office in Augusta on February 25. The meeting was to solicit public comments on the implementation and administration of the Paid Family and Medical Leave program, in accordance with Maine Title 26 §850-O.

The public was able to attend either in person or virtually. Nearly 20 people attended in person, and over 370 watched online, with 32 people giving comments. The recording can be watched below.

Watch the Recording

Twelve Insurance Policies Certified for PFML Private Plan Substitutions

AUGUSTA – The Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) program has announced the certification of 12 PFML-approved insurance policies that can be used by employers in applying for fully insured-private plan substitutions.

Under the PFML law, an employer may apply to obtain a substitution that demonstrates a paid family and medical leave insurance policy offers the rights, protections and benefits that are substantially equivalent to those provided to employees under the law. The Maine Department of Labor (DOL) adopted minimum criteria through the rulemaking process to determine plans that are substantially equivalent to the PFML law. To read more, click the link below.

Read the full announcement

Maine Paid Family and Medical Leave Private Plan Substitution Process Presentation Available

A recording and the PowerPoint presentation of the webinar regarding the private plan substitution process has been posted to Department’s webpage. The materials can be found under both the educational webinars tab and under the employer resources tab. View the presentation by clicking the button below.

Visit the webpage

A reminder for employers,
If you haven’t already, you must register on the Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) Portal.

It is the online system for employers to file quarterly wage reports and remit quarterly premium contributions. If you use a payroll company, they can request access to your account and file for you after you register. The portal also allows self-employed individuals and tribal governments to elect coverage.

Any employer with at least one Maine-based employee must have begun payroll withholdings January 1, 2025:

Employers with 15 or more employees contribute 1 percent of wages and may deduct up to half of the contribution from the employees’ wages.
Employers with less than 15 employees contribute 0.5 percent of wages and may deduct the entire amount from the employees’ wages.

Employers will begin their first quarterly wage reporting and premium payments April 1, 2025. They are due by April 30, 2025.

If you have questions, call the PFML call center at (207) 621-5024 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday-Friday.

*PFML staff are beginning to call unregistered employers to remind them of the registration requirement and offer assistance – the calls will come from the above call center number, and no personal information will be asked for.

Access Portal Here

Maine News Clips

📌 Bill would allow teens to work in family logging operations – Safety+Health magazine
📌 ALC “BREAKING NEWS” – Forest Emergency Order
📌 Discovering the rare Atlantic white cedars of Maine: Nature News – Seacoastonline.com
📌 GOP Rep Introduces Bill To Slash Agricultural Transport Regulations
📌 Freeport timber harvest that rankled locals serves as forestry lesson – The Portland Press Herald
📌 February 21, 2025 – Licensed Foresters
📌 February 21, 2025 – Maine Loggers
📌 UMaine’s School of Forest Resources reflections on termination of ForestService employees
📌 The Northern Logger Newsletter
📌 FRA Forestry Forum – Meeting Announcement March 6, 2025
📌 February 21, 2025 – Woods Wise Wire
📌 March 7: Pre-Applications Due for Catalyst, Forest Economy, and Timber for Transit
📌 Maine’s forests are vulnerable to wildfires and a spruce budworm outbreak

Vermont News

Read the Update

Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Weekly Report

Click below to read the latest weekly Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Report from the Vermont Motor Vehicle Police.

Read the Report

Vermont News Clips

📌 Bill would allow teens to work in family logging operations – Safety+Health magazine
📌 ALC “BREAKING NEWS” – Forest Emergency Order
📌 Capitol Beat: Push on to safeguard federal resources | Local News | rutlandherald.com
📌 Advocates criticize Scott’s climate omnibus bill as a policy ‘rollback’ – VTDigger
📌 Working Lands program awards over $444K to support Vermont’s agricultural and forestry sector
📌 The Northern Logger Newsletter
📌 GOP Rep Introduces Bill To Slash Agricultural Transport Regulations
📌 March 7: Pre-Applications Due for Catalyst, Forest Economy, and Timber for Transit

Safety & Educational Resources

To register: please copy and paste the link listed below to your web browser.

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAoc‐iurTkqHtNntIHLNON6jxdAQR1JCZGb

Maximum of 80 attendees per session.

COST: $75/pp

If you have any questions or issues with registering, please e‐mail tpa‐trainings@crossagency.com

Upcoming Classes.

Life Safety Code 101 –
March 4, 2025 l 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. SafetyWorks! Training Institute, 45 Commerce Drive, Augusta
This one-day class will provide a working overview of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Standard 101 “Life Safety Code” for fire and life safety in the building environment. The topics covered will include classification of occupancy types, adequate means of egress, occupant load factors, and occupancy specific hazards to fire and life safety. The Life Safety Code is adopted in the State of Maine as the state code for fire and life safety in buildings.

Wage & Hour Compliance –
March 5, 2025 l 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Northern Maine Community College, Edmunds Center, 33 Edgemont Drive, Presque Isle
This course is designed for human resource or benefits professionals, accountants, business owners, managers, or payroll supervisors. Labor laws can be complex. This seminar covers wage and hour laws, including minimum wage, overtime, youth employment, severance pay, equal pay, rest breaks, leave requirements (earned paid leave, family medical leave, family sick leave and leave for victims of violence). This class addresses commonly asked labor-related questions.

Ladder Safety-
March 7, 2025 l 8:30 a.m. –12:30 p.m. SafetyWorks! Training Institute, 45 Commerce Drive, Augusta
Ladders are a major source of injuries and fatalities in the workplace. However, falls can be reduced if people use caution when climbing ladders or when working in places where falls are a potential hazard. This half-day course will demonstrate how falls from ladders can be prevented through education, which includes planning for their use, ladder inspection, and using basic ladder safeguards.

Mental Health First Aid at Work –
March 11, 2025 l 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. SafetyWorks! Training Institute, 45 Commerce Drive, Augusta
Mental Health First Aid at Work teaches employees how to identify, understand and respond to signs and symptoms of mental health and substance use challenges encountered in the workplace.

Wage & Hour Compliance –
March 12, 2025 l 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. SafetyWorks Training Institute, 45 Commerce Drive, Augusta
This course is designed for human resource or benefits professionals, accountants, business owners, managers, or payroll supervisors. Labor laws can be complex. This seminar covers wage and hour laws, including minimum wage, overtime, youth employment, severance pay, equal pay, rest breaks, leave requirements (earned paid leave, family medical leave, family sick leave and leave for victims of violence). This class addresses commonly asked labor-related questions.

Safety and the Supervisor –
March 12, 2025 l 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Northern Maine Community College, Edmunds Center, 33 Edgemont Drive, Presque Isle
The success of any safety program is dependent on your front-line supervisors. Do they have the technical and interpersonal skills it takes to move your safety program in a positive direction? This training discusses the interpersonal skills all supervisors should develop to create a positive safety culture. In addition, the course will outline the key tasks supervisors should be performing daily to identify hazards and keep their employees safe.

10-Hr. Construction Standards –
March 13 & 14, 2025 l 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. (Day 1); 8:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. (Day 2) Northern Maine Community College, Keegan Room, 33 Edgemont Drive, Presque Isle
This one-and-a-half-day course teaches hazard identification and controls on a variety of construction industry safety and health topics (29 CFR 1926). This is an entry-level course and attendees who complete this course will receive an OSHA 10-hour course completion certificate.

Wage & Hour Compliance –
March 19, 2025 l 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. University of New England, Biddeford, 11 Hills Beach Road, Marcil Hall, Room 124, Biddeford
This course is designed for human resource or benefits professionals, accountants, business owners, managers, or payroll supervisors. Labor laws can be complex. This seminar covers wage and hour laws, including minimum wage, overtime, youth employment, severance pay, equal pay, rest breaks, leave requirements (earned paid leave, family medical leave, family sick leave and leave for victims of violence). This class addresses commonly asked labor-related questions.

Trenching & Excavation –
March 21, 2025 l 8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. SafetyWorks! Training Institute, 45 Commerce Drive, Augusta
This course explains the dangers to employees from trenching and excavation operations, soil classifications, OSHA requirements, and the types of protective systems to prevent cave-ins. You will also learn what is meant by “competent person”.

Impairment Detection Training for Employers –
March 27, 2025 l 8:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. SafetyWorks! Training Institute, 45 Commerce Drive, Augusta
This one-day training session is designed to help owners, managers, and supervisors recognize and respond appropriately to employee-impairment in the workplace in order to reduce worker accidents and injuries. Participants will be taught procedures to detect impairment regardless of the substance or cause. This class is designed to fulfill the federal DOT requirements for reasonable suspicion training of supervisors. In addition, participants will learn how to develop and implement policies that address impairment in the workplace and are in compliance with Maine’s Substance Use Testing Law.

Register and browse more SafetyWorks! classes: https://www.safetyworksmaine.gov/training/scheduled_classes/register.shtml

If you have questions about safety or upcoming classes, reach out to SafetyWorks! at 1-877-SAFE-345 or general.bls-safetyworks@maine.gov.

If you have questions about Wage and Hour compliance, please reach out to the Wage and Hour Division at 207-623-7900 or bls.mdol@maine.gov, or visit https://www.maine.gov/labor/bls/.

New Small PLC Operator/Driver First Aid Pack!

In response to demand for a smaller/”must have in an emergency” first aid pack to be stored in a machine or pickup, the PLC has created a new Operator/Driver First Aid Pack.

Contains “must have in an emergency” bleeding control items
One pack is recommended per machine/truck
Detachable velcro panel ideal for mounting in a machine or truck
Meets OSHA requirements for a logging first aid kit
Supplements PLC’s larger first aid back pack but is not a replacement

More information on the pack and its contents is available HERE.

Purchase

PLC Crew First Aid Backpack

PLC First Aid Pack: In response to widespread interest from members, we have created a PLC First Aid Pack that has everything you need for emergencies in the woods.

This Military Elite Tactical Trauma First Aid Backpack was designed for the PLC by Paul Stewart – EMT Houlton, ME.

Purchase

Now Free to Maine Loggers! A $300 value!

Member Benefits

PLC Members Only! Equipment Cost Calculators Available

Members,

With expenses rising rapidly in the industry we know you are struggling to get a handle on your costs. This is a great time to utilize the cost calculators created in 2021 for PLC Members.

These new, easy to use, logging equipment and log trucking cost calculators are available on the PLC Members Only section of our web site You may access this private section of the web site with your member login or set up a login HERE.

These calculators allow you to quickly estimate the hourly cost of operation for any piece of your equipment.

DISCLAIMER: These calculators are being made available for your business use as a member benefit. They produce equipment estimates and are not official products of the PLC nor should they be used for negotiation purposes.