IBEW 1837 News

May 7, 2018 - Union workers have walked off the job and are on strike at the New Hampshire Electric Co-op. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local Union #1837 represents 85 employees of the New Hampshire Electric Co-op (NHEC), a utility that serves 83,000 residents across 100 towns.

Last week, union members in the largest bargaining unit at the New Hampshire Electric Co-op voted 79 – 1 to reject the company’s contract offer and authorize the IBEW Negotiating Team to call for a strike at the utility. Members in the smaller Warehouse bargaining unit also voted unanimously to reject the contract and authorize a strike. Union and Company negotiators met this morning but NHEC representatives refused to back off their demand that that they have the unilateral right to modify or eliminate 401(k) or pension plans without first negotiating with the Union. In other areas, the Union previously agreed to almost all of the company’s proposals - including flexibility.

The Union agreed to extend the previous contract until today due to the company’s promise to bring something to this morning’s bargaining session with a substantial change that would make us happy.  We can’t help but think this tactic was just a way to have our members around for this past weekend’s storms.

The Company’s continued insistence on this extreme proposal would make NHEC one of the only unionized electric utilities in the country to have such disastrous language affecting worker retirement plans. The Company was clear this was not about a failing pension plan but rather that they want to be able to balance the books on the backs of their workers by changing the plan at any time they wished. 

The top 12 management people at NHEC make over $2 million in base salary and another $600,000 in other compensation. Two of the managers who responsible for making the decisions for the management negotiating team make $353,000 plus $86,000 in other compensation and the other makes $189,000 plus $72,000 in other compensation a year, according to NHEC’s 2016 income report. 

The fact that the management team would treat these men and women this way is unconscionable, especially given what they do day-in and day-out in the worst conditions imaginable to keep the lights on for NHEC customers. These are highly-skilled hardworking, dedicated workers for the members of the Cooperative. They deserve better.

February 28, 2018 - IBEW Local #1837 members at Brookfield Renewable’s hydroelectric assets in Maine have ratified a new, 5-year contract. Members will see a 12.75% increase in wages over the term of the agreement while maintaining their level of benefits.

“This is a good contract,” said IBEW 1837 Business Manager Dick Rogers. “The members will receive a wage increase similar to or even a little better than workers at other Brookfield hydro assets.”

In addition, minimum call-outs for members were increased to 4 hours for regular call-outs to 6 hours on holidays.

Stipendable skillsets were changed which will qualified more than half of the members to receive more money beginning in 2019.

New employees will now get holidays immediately after being hired instead of having to wait for six months.

“There were no losses and most of the (members) seemed to be happy,” said IBEW 1837 Chief Steward Ed Goodale. “The negotiations themselves went well. The company proposed some changes including adding a stand-by policy and changing the management rights clause but we were successful in getting them to drop those.”

October 12, 2017 - After waiting for more than three years to find out who will take ownership of the electric generation assets of Eversource NH (formerly PSNH), IBEW 1837 members and New Hampshire ratepayers finally have their answer. The winning bidders of an auction were announced on October 12 in an Eversource filing with the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission (NHPUC).

Eversource said their nine hydroelectric plants are being purchased for $83 million by Hull Street Energy, LLC and its affiliates. Hull Street is a private equity firm based in Bethesda, Maryland, that is focused on the power generation industry.

The three fossil fuel plants (Newington, Merrimack and Schiller Stations) are being purchased for $175 million by a partnership of Granite Shore Power LLC, a 50-50 joint venture of Atlas Holdings of Greenwich, Connecticut, and Castleton Commodities International of Stamford, Connecticut. 

The NHPPUC is expected to approve both of these transactions within a few months.

In 2014, Eversource entered into settlement talks related to the divestiture of their generating assets as the PUC responded to a new law giving them the authority to force the Company to sell them if it was in the “economic interest” of ratepayers. PSNH had been under pressure to sell in large part because costs associated with a state-mandated "scrubber" to reduce mercury emissions at Merrimack Station had led to substantial upward pressure on residential electric rates.

In 2015, IBEW 1837 members overwhelmingly ratified an agreement that extended their contract while providing additional employee protections if the fossil or hydro facilities were sold or closed. All prospective buyers agreed to abide by the terms of the Union contract and to continue to run the facilities for at least 18 months after the deal was finalized.