System and Area Dispatchers at CMP voted in February to join IBEW Local 1837. The Local already represents about 600 other workers throughout the company.

Negotiations will begin with the Company on April 26. The newly organized workers have already met to formulate proposals and select a Negotiating Committee. The Committee has been working to refine the proposals and build a negotiating strategy.

Additional dates are being scheduled for May and June.

When local farmers answered a union request for assistance providing Thanksgiving dinners to laid off workers, a new alliance was born. Understanding that both farmers and workers face challenges posed by corporate global trading injustice, the farmers stepped up to the plate and made wonderful dinners possible for the laid off workers through the Food AND Medicine program and the Greater Bangor Central Labor Council.

Wanting to continue the mutually beneficial relationship, Food AND Medicine later worked with the farmers to design a program on the model of other Community Supported Agriculture programs where union members could buy in for a season's worth of locally-grown vegetables. The farmers get a guaranteed income, local farms in the community can remain viable, and the union members get a good price on organically-grown, healthful, tasty vegetables.