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.)

June 6, 2008 - Television viewers in Maine and New Hampshire have been forced to endure a seemingly endless barrage of anti-union commercials in recent weeks. The TV ads, funded by the so-called “Center for Union Facts,” are being broadcast by television stations in Bangor and Portland. Viewers in New Hampshire can also watch those stations either over the airwaves or on cable.

The Center for Union Facts is a front group for a notorious Washington D.C. lobbyist named Richard Berman. The center is supported by business groups and anti-worker interests who seek to inflict the maximum possible damage on labor unions while staying discretely in the background. Berman himself is known for mounting public relations campaigns for corporate groups that seek to relax drunk driving laws, minimize the health risks associated with obesity and tanning, and prevent increases in the minimum wage. He has also advised that pregnant women can eat a lot more mercury-laden tuna than the FDA recommends. Berman doesn’t really care about canned tuna fish, or your rights in the workplace. He’s just a paid lobbyist looking to make a buck.

IBEW Local 1837 will pursue an appeal of the March 20th National Labor Relations Board decision that rejected the bid of PSNH Working Foremen in Hooksett, Milford and Derry to join the Union. The Working Foremen work shoulder-to-shoulder with our represented Lineworkers and perform nearly identical work for the Line Department.

The Union has studied the Regional Director's decision finding that the Working Foremen are not employees, and have no right to organize or to be represented by a union. We feel there are some serious errors in that decision, and have instructed our counsel to appeal the decision. That appeal will be a request for the National Labor Relations Board in Washington, D.C. to carefully review the Regional Director's decision, and to reverse it if they agree that it is incorrect.

The National Labor Relations Board has rejected the bid of Working Foremen in the Line Department of PSNH to join IBEW Local 1837. The Working Foremen work shoulder-to-shoulder with our represented Lineworkers and perform nearly identical work for the Line Department.

In a ruling dated March 20, 2008, the NLRB's Regional Director disagreed with the Union and agreed with Public Service Company of New Hampshire, finding that the Working Foremen - Line were statutory supervisors. Under the terms of the National Labor Relations Act, workers determined to be supervisors are not eligible to join a labor union and are not protected by the National Labor Relations Act. Working Foremen - Line in the Hooksett, Milford and Derry Area Work Centers had petitioned to be represented by IBEW Local 1837 in December of last year. Their petition was challenged by PSNH, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Connecticut-based Northeast Utilities.

Twenty Working Foremen at three Public Service Company of New Hampshire Area Work Centers in the Southern Division may soon be represented by IBEW Local 1837. Working Foremen at the Derry, Hooksett and Milford AWCs have authorized the Union to represent them for the purpose of collective bargaining.

Certification of Representative Petitions were filed with the National Labor Relations Board office in Boston on Friday, December 21, 2007. The NLRB is expected to schedule elections for the three bargaining units sometime early in February 2008, pending a possible challenge to the Union petition by PSNH.