IBEW's Bill DeMotta & Ray Boyle

July 23, 2008 - IBEW 1837’s Bill DeMotta from PSNH and Ray Boyle from CMP represented our Local at the National Safety Council 2008 Spring Labor Division meeting in Bettendorf, Iowa. Over the course of 3½ days in mid-May, Brothers DeMotta and Boyle joined around 240 other union members—including 133 from the IBEW—to attend training sessions and union caucuses covering a wide array of important safety issues both in our workplaces and also right in our own homes.

“Being around people who have the same safety interests that we do in the electrical industry was great,” said Bill DeMotta. “We have a lot in common with those folks and its great to hear what they’re doing and get feedback about what we’re doing.”

“I get so much out of the networking at the conference and afterwards by email,” agreed Ray Boyle. “We share great information with each other.

Rep. Mike Michaud and Cynthia Phinney.

July 4, 2008 - More than 400 union members and other supporters of working people in Maine gathered in Brewer for the 8th Annual 4th of July Solidarity Celebration. This wonderful event featured great food, two U.S. Congressional Representatives, live folk music, fireworks, an original stage musical, and a large, rolling museum bus powered by bio-diesel. Clearly, this was not your average holiday picnic.

Especially noteworthy for members of IBEW Local 1837 was the presentation of a Solidarity Award to our own Sister Cynthia Phinney in recognition of her 16 years of service to our union and to the labor movement as a whole. Cynthia was selected to win the award by the Eastern Maine Labor Council, a local labor federation representing more than 6,000 individual workers.

“The award represents my gratitude for all the hard work and Cynthia’s efforts on behalf of Eastern Maine,” said Rep. Mike Michaud, who had the privilege of presenting the award to Cynthia. Brother Michaud, a former mill worker, is one of the few card-carrying union members serving in the United States Congress.

IBEW Lineworker at PSNH.

June 27, 2008 - The National Labor Relations Board in Washington, D.C. has denied IBEW Local 1837’s request for review of the decision rejecting the effort of PSNH Working Foremen to join our union. This effectively ends the months-long campaign to allow these workers to join IBEW 1837.

The original March 20th decision by the NLRB’s Regional Director determined that the Working Foremen are supervisors, not employees, and have no right to organize or to be represented by a union. The Working Foremen work shoulder-to-shoulder with our represented Lineworkers and perform nearly identical work for the Line Department at Public Service Company of New Hampshire.

The Working Foremen in Hooksett, Milford and Derry had petitioned to join IBEW last December, but those petitions were challenged by PSNH based on what the Company claimed to be their supervisory status. (Recent NLRB decisions have made it easier for employers to make that claim.)