Business Manager Tony Sapienza
Workers Ratify First IBEW Contract at Granite Ridge Energy
April 1, 2008 - Workers at Granite Ridge Energy in Londonderry, New Hampshire have ratified their first union contract, a three-year deal with substantial wage increases for most workers. The power plant workers voted to join IBEW Local 1837 on August 4, 2006. The represented workers include all maintenance and operating personnel at the plant.
“Our new members at Granite Ridge have shown tremendous determination in staying together through this long process, resulting in good language for the contract,” said IBEW Assistant Business Manager Tom Ryan. “I’m also pleased that we’ve been able to establish classifications for each job with a corresponding wage rate. Within each classification, we’ve established a progression schedule from entry level to top pay with a corresponding increase at each step.”
None of the 19 workers in the new bargaining unit have had a wage increase since February of 2006. The three-year deal features an increase of 7½% in the first year, 3½% each in the second and third years.
Warehouse Technician Scott Kirby and Plant Operator Joe Gilmore anchored the negotiating team for the workers at Granite Ridge. They were joined at the bargaining table by Brother Ryan as well as Assistant Business Manager Bill Dunn, IBEW 2nd District Representative Ed Collins, and IBEW 1837 staff member Susan Ekola. Negotiations started in October 2006 and stretched for close to 30 meetings.
The Granite Ridge Energy Facility is a natural gas-fired power plant operated and maintained by North American Energy Services (NAES), which currently supplies both management and labor for the plant’s owners.
IBEW 1837 congratulates the negotiating team and all these workers on their first contract!