Contract Extension Approved at Unitil

January 19, 2010 - IBEW Local 1837 and Unitil Energy Systems have agreed to a two-year contract extension. The current collective bargaining agreement was due to expire May 31, 2010.

On January 14, 2010, the IBEW members at the Company approved the extension which left the hours, terms, and working conditions unchanged. Members  agreed to a 2% wage increase effective May 30, 2010 and an additional 3% wage increase effective May 29, 2011. 

"This is a good deal for our members. Keeping medical costs fixed and retirement benefits intact along with a fair wage adjustment made it an easy choice for the negotiating committee to recommend ratification," said Assistant Business Manager Tom Ryan.

The negotiating committee was composed of Brothers Donald Palmer and Willis Mailhot of the Unitil Seacoast work center, and Bob McNeff and Mike Yurek of the Unitil Capital work center.

Unitil is an electric distribution company with 72,500 customers in the Capital and Seacoast regions of New Hampshire. There are 40 members of IBEW 1837 who work at the former Exeter & Hampton Electric Company and Concord Electric Company.  The two companies combined and became Unitil in 2002. After that, in 2005, the collective bargaining agreements were also combined and a single contract was negotiated for IBEW members working at the Company.