Inside IBEW 1837

Most Unit Meetings Set to Resume in September

Unit meeting last year in Waterville.August 19, 2010 - As a great summer in New Hampshire and Maine draws to a close, most of the Units in our Local Union are gearing up to resume regular monthly meetings in September. The only exception is Unit 6, Portland, which will resume monthly meetings in October.

Meetings for members of Unit 3, Laconia, are moving to a new date and location. The Opeechee Park Clubhouse is no longer available. Meetings for Unit 3 will now be held at the Laconia Elks Lodge at 17 Sugarbush Lane in Gilford on the third Thursday each month at 5:15 p.m..

Monthly unit meetings are where the important business of the Local is conducted. It's also an opportunity to hear about the latest news from the labor movement, and catch up with your IBEW 1837 Brothers and Sisters.

IBEW Local 1837 members are welcome at any unit meeting. Some units do not meet during the summer, on holidays, or during severe weather. Meeting locations and times may vary. Check with your steward, the union office, or the calendar on this website before driving.

IBEW 1837 Reaches Tentative Agreement for New Contract at Bangor Hydro

IBEW 1837 Negotiating Team at Bangor Hydro.July 10, 2010 UPDATE - IBEW 1837 members at Bangor Hydro have voted to pass the tentative agreement and accept the new contract.

July 1, 2010 – IBEW Local 1837’s negotiating team has reached tentative agreement with Bangor Hydro on a new five-year contract with wage increases each year. Union members in the bargaining unit will vote on whether to ratify the package at a meeting on Saturday, July 10, 11:00 a.m. at the Ramada Inn in Bangor.

With 23 bargaining sessions since contract talks began in late February, negotiators discussed a wide range of both economic and non-economic issues before reaching tentative agreement shortly after the June 30th expiration of the previous contract.

The Union Negotiating Team is pleased that members at Bangor Hydro will stay significantly below recent trends on healthcare cost increases with no increase in 2011 of the medical premium costs the employees are paying if the contract is approved. In addition, employees will be able to enroll in vision and/or dental plans if they wish to do so. Although these will be paid for by the employee, they will be available at group rates.

IBEW 1837 Stewards Receive Training from Renowned Labor Educator

Labor Educator Charley Richardson led the training.July 1, 2010 - Stewards from eight of our represented companies enjoyed a daylong advanced training from Charley Richardson, an award-winning labor educator and former teacher for the UMass Lowell Labor Extension Program. Gathering at the Plumbers and Pipefitters Union Hall in Augusta on June 14, IBEW 1837 stewards talked about some of the challenges and concerns facing our Union, and they developed strategies we can all use to help deal with them.

Brother Richardson led a great discussion about how the difficult economic landscape facing workers impacts all of us – even though we enjoy many benefits by belonging to a Union. All workers feel some stress and uncertainty during these tough times, and those feelings can have a real impact both on our ability to enjoy our jobs and, more importantly, on our relationships with our family and friends.

IBEW Workers at PSNH Approve Contract

Gordon Young casts his ballot during the contract ratification vote at Randolph Town Hall.June 14, 2010 - IBEW members at Public Service Company of New Hampshire (PSNH) have ratified a three-year Generation Contract and a Utility Contract after five days of voting that included polling places in Randolph, Keene, Laconia, Hooksett and Dover. Final approval of the deal on June 14 followed an unprecedented 20 bargaining sessions that began in early March, in what the head of the Union Negotiating Team termed “a difficult negotiation.”

The agreement includes a 3% wage increase in each of the three years with the contract running until June 1, 2013. Although the health plan cost share for employee coverage will remain at 10%, the cost for dependent coverage will increase to 25% on January 1, 2011. Even with the higher dependent coverage costs for some PSNH workers, an analysis by the Union Negotiating Team indicates that all IBEW members at PSNH will still enjoy some increase in their take-home pay.

Union and PSNH Reach Tentative Agreement on New Contract

The IBEW Negotiating Team at PSNH on the first day of negotiations.May 28, 2010  (UPDATED) - After 19 bargaining sessions, negotiatiors for IBEW Local #1837 and Public Service Company of New Hampshire reached a tentative agreement early Thursday morning on a contract. The current collective bargaining agreement was set to run out at the end of this month.

If approved by the union's membership at PSNH, the three-year contract would include a 3% pay increase per year for represented workers at New Hampshire's largest utility. The tentative agreement includes a 10% / 25% cost-sharing formula for medical insurance. The straight eight hour day has been maintained, call-in premiums and rest time all remain unchanged, and there will not be a new storm rate.

During a meeting on Friday, the Company expressed some concerns regarding the language in the medical proposal. This caused a delay in the IBEW 1837 Negotiating Team's preparation of a summary of contract changes for union members to review prior to voting. The Team hopes to begin distributing the summary on Wednesday, June 2. It will be accompanied by a ratification vote schedule including voting locations and times. Voting is planned to begin on June 7 and end on June 14. Updates will be posted on this website as they become available.

CMP Owner Iberdrola USA Sells Gas Companies to Help Pay for MPRP

May 25, 2010 - Iberdrola USA has announced its intent to sell three natural gas companies in Southern New England. The sale will help pay the $1.4 billion price tag of the Maine Power Reliability Project, a major upgrade of the state’s electricity grid that was approved this month by the Maine Public Utilities Commission. Central Maine Power Company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Iberdrola USA.

All three Iberdrola USA subsidiaries – Southern Connecticut Gas Co., Connecticut Natural Gas Corp. and Berkshire Gas Co – are being sold to UIL Holdings for approximately $1.3 billion, including the assumption of debt. Workers at those companies are represented by other labor unions, not the IBEW. UIL Holdings is the parent company of Connecticut’s United Illuminating Company.

“It’s too early to tell what impact the sale will have on our members at CMP,” IBEW 1837 Asst. Business Manager Bill Dunn said. “It is something that we plan to watch closely.”

In Support of IBEW Workers at WGME 13, Democratic Candidates for Governor Refuse to Buy Campaign Ads on the TV Station

WGME studios in Portland, MaineApril 22, 2010 - All of the Democratic candidates in June’s gubernatorial primary have decided not to purchase political campaign advertising on WGME, channel 13 in Portland, to demonstrate their support for workers at the television station.

The refusal of Pat McGowan, Libby Mitchell, John Richardson, Steve Rowe, and Rosa Scarcelli to buy ads on the station is in response to a request from the union representing more than 40 workers at the station. That request came after WGME-TV and Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc., of Maryland, unilaterally declared an impasse in contract talks, cut wages, and implemented parts of their last contract offer that forced concessions on the workers.

Broadcast stations look forward to the political season and the campaign ads that help boost their bottom lines. While the full financial impact of the candidates’ decision is difficult to estimate, it is likely to lead to the loss of tens of thousands of dollars in ad revenue for the local CBS affiliate.

Maine Democratic Party Executive Director Mary Erin Casale expressed her approval of the move. “The Maine Democratic Party is proud to support the workers of IBEW Local 1837 and applauds all of our gubernatorial primary candidates in supporting this cause. We encourage all parties involved to reach a fair collective bargaining agreement as soon as possible,” Casale said.

CMP Plans Layoffs to Boost Profits

 

CMP Seeks to Boost Profits with Planned Layoff of Over 100 Workers
Workers’ Families and Communities Will Be Hard Hit; CMP Customers Also Expected to Suffer
 
April 7, 2009 - Central Maine Power Company has notified the union representing some 700 workers at the state’s largest utility that they plan to lay off over 100 workers in order to boost their profit margin from 9% up to 11%. This comes less than a month after most of the union members ratified a contract set to run for another four years, and right on the heels of approval to use stimulus funds to replace 141 meter employees with automated meter infrastructure
 
After reaching a tentative agreement on a collective bargaining agreement in early March, CMP representatives told negotiators for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 1837 that the new contract was a good deal for union members.

Workers at WGME-TV Begin Reaching Out to Public for Support

Signs used at demonstrations outside WGME-TV.March 31, 2010 - Workers at WGME-TV have begun public demonstrations, re-launched a website that was first started four years ago, and have collected "fans" for a new Facebook page as they struggle to get a fair contract offer from the Portland television station. At the same time, IBEW Local 1837 has filed unfair labor practice charges against the Company with the National Labor Relations Board.

On Wednesday, March 17, both in the morning and early afternoon, workers from WGME-TV and their allies peacefully demonstrated in front of Northport Business Park on Washington Avenue in Portland, where the studios and offices of WGME-TV are located. During the demonstrations, WGME-TV managers drove by several times and took photographs of participants. The union believes that this constituted a deliberate, unlawful attempt at intimidation of workers exercising their legal right to publicly demonstrate. IBEW 1837 has filed amended unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board because of these actions.

Local 1837/CMP Contract Vote

March 9, 2010 - After 2 delays due to storm restoration, IBEW Local 1837 members working at Central Maine Power Co. voted on a new contract today. After a full year of negotiations, nearly 10 months of working without a contract, the membership voted to accept the company's final offer. The final tally of votes was 68%-32%.