“Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d ever be sitting in a union meeting”. This sentiment has been echoed by several workers in a group of non-union workers at CMP who have been so frustrated by changes made since Energy East took over their company that they are now actively seeking to join the union.

Many of the workers have had no raises in two or three years, while their contributions to health insurance plans have skyrocketed faster than those of their union co-workers whose payments are locked in for the duration of their five-year contract. Job duties have changed, and workers requests for improvements on these and many other issues have been ignored. The final straw came earlier this year when it was announced that the unused sick time that workers had previously been able to accumulate for longer medical needs would be eliminated on January 1.

CMP management is working hard to ensure that their union workforce doesn’t grow. Managers have been meeting one-on-one with the workers to tell them not to vote for the union. Workers have been required to attend meetings where managers, including company President Sara Burns, talk to them about strikes and union dues and obscure provisions in union by-laws that they hope will intimidate their employees to remain non-union. Workers email inboxes and mailboxes have been filled with a barrage of messages and fliers portraying unions as ineffective and self-serving, and suggesting that the company is better suited to look out for the employees’ interests.

Many of the workers have been attending union meetings and talking with their co-workers to get information about the union and the vote. But this communication takes place on the workers’ own time and is strictly voluntary. Employees who are participating in the Union Organizing Committee have also been circulating fliers among their co-workers about the facts of the union effort.

The company’s anti-union tactics worked with one group who voted on December 7. Although two-thirds of the Customer Representatives in CMP’s Augusta phone center had signed cards stating that they wished to be represented by IBEW Local 1837, the Company’s campaign swayed enough of those workers to decide to continue to trust CMP and Energy East to make decisions about their working conditions that they voted 27-33 not to join the union.

A second group of workers, including several professionals, will vote on January 13.  IBEW Local 1837 already represents approximately 600 workers at CMP.