CMP 47 Negotiating Committee Working on Proposals A majority vote today ratified a first contract for "The 47" CMP employees who voted to join IBEW Local 1837 in January of 2006.

The ratification moves the employees into a new era, that of working under a collective bargaining agreement. While this first contract package fails to fully ameliorate erosion in the group's wages that has taken place since the company was sold several years ago, it establishes annual increases and fixed contributions for benefits for the term of the contract, as well as a grievance and arbitration procedure, a new and more open job posting procedure, seniority rights in case of layoffs, and makes changes to the evaluation procedure to address concerns about the unfair impact of bell-curve rating.