Business Manager Tony Sapienza
nti-Union Meetings Scheduled at PSNH for "Writers" Seeking To Join IBEW 1837
Public Service of New Hampshire (PSNH) has scheduled mandatory "Face-to-Face" anti-Union meetings for Field Technicians A/B/C and Field Technician Specialists who are seeking to join IBEW Union Local 1837. This comes in the wake of the withdrawal of our petition and the rescheduling of a hearing at the National Labor Relations Board in Boston. (See "NLRB Meeting for PSNH Writers Rescheduled" website story posted on April 13, 2007.)
In agreeing to this withdrawal and refiling, our attorney requested that PSNH agree to refrain from engaging in anti-union activities between the date of withdrawl and date of refiling our petition, and the Company's attorney indicated that he would speak with PSNH and try to get them to agree to this. However, no agreement in this regard was finalized before the petition was withdrawn, because of the press of time.
We have now learned that the Company's attorney was not able to get PSNH to agree to hold off anti-union campaigning until our new petition is refiled, and that they are going ahead with their mandatory anti-union meetings beginning on April 30 in Hillsboro with meetings to follow in Rochester and Hooksett.
This certainly does not reflect well on the Company's willingness to act cooperatively and fairly with the workers and the Union. Hopefully, once IBEW Local 1837 represents the bargaining unit, PSNH will be more reasonable in its approach to dealing with these employees.