October 29, 2008 - Members of IBEW Local 1837 - including three elected officers of our Union - joined dozens of other labor activists in speaking out about how they planned to vote on Election Day. The "Yearbook" published by the Eastern Maine Labor Council features representatives of many labor organizations detailing their reasons for supporting the presidential ticket of Barack Obama and Joe Biden. Many also express their support for the U.S. Senate candidacy of Tom Allen. Photographs of the Brothers and Sisters in the union movement are accompanied by their own words.

October 28, 2008 - Union stewards and officers continue to spend a significant amount of time and energy contending with large problems resulting from conflicts between IBEW 1837 members. Some small problems became larger ones when members chose to escalate their disagreements to the point where representatives of management became active players in their disputes.

“Sometimes there are problems when one union member thinks that another member is doing something wrong like not following the terms of our contract or mistreating other employees,” said IBEW 1837 Business Manager Cynthia Phinney. “If the first thing that they do is go to management, instead of trying to work it out or consulting their shop steward, we may end up in the unfortunate situation of being unable to do anything to help.”

The Current is distributed quarterly by IBEW 1837 stewards at worksites. Please contact the union office if you don't get a copy. You can also download the most recent edition here. Highlights include:

IBEW 1837 Members Start Voting in National Election

Special Feature: Member vs. Member Disputes Undermine Union

Historic Artifact Finds New Home at IBEW 1837

Labor's Day Events Draw Big Crowds

IBEW 1837 Member Leads Lewiston Toy Library

Local Business Manager Phinney Wins IBEW Award

and more!

IBEW's Angela Saltis

October 21, 2008 - In 2005, Lewiston, Maine’s Toy Library was looking for a new home. Founded in the early 1990’s in the basement of a Baptist Church to help provide expensive adaptive toys to disabled children, the all-volunteer group was struggling because of the potential expense of relocating. It started to look as if they might have to close it down altogether.

Enter the Rev. Robert Goulet at the New Life Christian Fellowship and his daughter, IBEW 1837 member and WGME-TV television Producer/Director Angela Saltis. It turns out that Rev. Goulet had some space available at his church that the Toy Library could use. When Angela told her father to let her know if she could do anything to help, he said “Great, how about being President?”

October 15, 2008 - Field Technicians and Field Technician Specialists at Public Service Company of New Hampshire have voted in a National Labor Relations Board election to withdraw recognition from IBEW Local 1837 as their representative for collective bargaining. Votes from the mail-in ballot election were counted at the NLRB office in Boston on Wednesday, October 15, and a majority of these workers voted against the Union.

Although their Negotiating Team was well on the way to a first contract agreement with the Company, IBEW Local 1837 received notification from the NLRB in late August that 30% or more of these workers (also known as “Writers”) had filed a petition for decertification of the union. The petition was filed with the NLRB just over a year after the Writers’ original election victory last summer. There are 33 workers in the bargaining unit who were eligible to vote.