Most Unit Meetings Set to Resume in September
August 19, 2010 - As a great summer in New Hampshire and Maine draws to a close, most of the Units in our Local Union are gearing up to resume regular monthly meetings in September. The only exception is Unit 6, Portland, which will resume monthly meetings in October.
Meetings for members of Unit 3, Laconia, are moving to a new date and location. The Opeechee Park Clubhouse is no longer available. Meetings for Unit 3 will now be held at the Laconia Elks Lodge at 17 Sugarbush Lane in Gilford on the third Thursday each month at 5:15 p.m..
Monthly unit meetings are where the important business... Read More
IBEW 1837 Reaches Tentative Agreement for New Contract at Bangor Hydro
July 10, 2010 UPDATE - IBEW 1837 members at Bangor Hydro have voted to pass the tentative agreement and accept the new contract.
July 1, 2010 – IBEW Local 1837’s negotiating team has reached tentative agreement with Bangor Hydro on a new five-year contract with wage increases each year. Union members in the bargaining unit will vote on whether to ratify the package at a meeting on Saturday, July 10, 11:00 a.m. at the Ramada Inn in Bangor.
With 23 bargaining sessions since contract talks began in late February, negotiators discussed a wide range of both economic and non-economic issues before... Read More
IBEW 1837 Stewards Receive Training from Renowned Labor Educator
July 1, 2010 - Stewards from eight of our represented companies enjoyed a daylong advanced training from Charley Richardson, an award-winning labor educator and former teacher for the UMass Lowell Labor Extension Program. Gathering at the Plumbers and Pipefitters Union Hall in Augusta on June 14, IBEW 1837 stewards talked about some of the challenges and concerns facing our Union, and they developed strategies we can all use to help deal with them.
Brother Richardson led a great discussion about how the difficult economic landscape facing workers impacts all of us – even though we enjoy many... Read More
IBEW Workers at PSNH Approve Contract
June 14, 2010 - IBEW members at Public Service Company of New Hampshire (PSNH) have ratified a three-year Generation Contract and a Utility Contract after five days of voting that included polling places in Randolph, Keene, Laconia, Hooksett and Dover. Final approval of the deal on June 14 followed an unprecedented 20 bargaining sessions that began in early March, in what the head of the Union Negotiating Team termed “a difficult negotiation.”
The agreement includes a 3% wage increase in each of the three years with the contract running until June 1, 2013. Although the health plan cost share... Read More
Union and PSNH Reach Tentative Agreement on New Contract
May 28, 2010  (UPDATED) - After 19 bargaining sessions, negotiatiors for IBEW Local #1837 and Public Service Company of New Hampshire reached a tentative agreement early Thursday morning on a contract. The current collective bargaining agreement was set to run out at the end of this month.
If approved by the union's membership at PSNH, the three-year contract would include a 3% pay increase per year for represented workers at New Hampshire's largest utility. The tentative agreement includes a 10% / 25% cost-sharing formula for medical insurance. The straight eight hour day has been... Read More
CMP Owner Iberdrola USA Sells Gas Companies to Help Pay for MPRP
May 25, 2010 - Iberdrola USA has announced its intent to sell three natural gas companies in Southern New England. The sale will help pay the $1.4 billion price tag of the Maine Power Reliability Project, a major upgrade of the state’s electricity grid that was approved this month by the Maine Public Utilities Commission. Central Maine Power Company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Iberdrola USA.
All three Iberdrola USA subsidiaries – Southern Connecticut Gas Co., Connecticut Natural Gas Corp. and Berkshire Gas Co – are being sold to UIL Holdings for approximately $1.3 billion, including the... Read More
In Support of IBEW Workers at WGME 13, Democratic Candidates for Governor Refuse to Buy Campaign Ads on the TV Station
April 22, 2010 - All of the Democratic candidates in June’s gubernatorial primary have decided not to purchase political campaign advertising on WGME, channel 13 in Portland, to demonstrate their support for workers at the television station.
The refusal of Pat McGowan, Libby Mitchell, John Richardson, Steve Rowe, and Rosa Scarcelli to buy ads on the station is in response to a request from the union representing more than 40 workers at the station. That request came after WGME-TV and Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc., of Maryland, unilaterally declared an impasse in contract talks, cut wages,... Read More
CMP Plans Layoffs to Boost Profits
April 7, 2009 - Central Maine Power Company has notified the union representing some 700 workers at the state’s largest utility that they plan to lay off over 100 workers in order to boost their profit margin from 9% up to 11%. This comes less than a month after most of the union members ratified a contract set to run for another four years, and right on the heels of approval to use stimulus funds to replace 141 meter employees with automated meter infrastructure.
 After reaching a tentative agreement on a collective bargaining agreement in early March, CMP representatives told... Read More
Workers at WGME-TV Begin Reaching Out to Public for Support
March 31, 2010 - Workers at WGME-TV have begun public demonstrations, re-launched a website that was first started four years ago, and have collected "fans" for a new Facebook page as they struggle to get a fair contract offer from the Portland television station. At the same time, IBEW Local 1837 has filed unfair labor practice charges against the Company with the National Labor Relations Board.
On Wednesday, March 17, both in the morning and early afternoon, workers from WGME-TV and their allies peacefully demonstrated in front of Northport Business Park on Washington... Read More
Local 1837/CMP Contract Vote
March 9, 2010 - After 2 delays due to storm restoration, IBEW Local 1837 members working at Central Maine Power Co. voted on a new contract today. After a full year of negotiations, nearly 10 months of working without a contract, the membership voted to accept the company's final offer. The final tally of votes was 68%-32%.