Business Manager Tony Sapienza
June 6, 2008 - Television viewers in Maine and New Hampshire have been forced to endure a seemingly endless barrage of anti-union commercials in recent weeks. The TV ads, funded by the so-called “Center for Union Facts,” are being broadcast by television stations in Bangor and Portland. Viewers in New Hampshire can also watch those stations either over the airwaves or on cable.
June 9, 2008 UPDATE- Richard Trumka's appearance at this weekend's Maine AFL-CIO COPE Convention has been cancelled, but there will still be a Labor-to-Labor Walk on Saturday morning, June 14, leaving from the Wyndam Hotel in South Portland. All IBEW 1837 members are encouraged to participate. For additional information, please call the Union Office.
May 29, 2008 - The Democratic Party may not have officially chosen their presidential candidate yet, but IBEW 1837’s Worksite Coordinators have already begun to take a look at some of the issues in this year’s presidential campaign. In the case of the presumptive Republican nominee, they don’t always like what they see.
May 9, 2008 - Bangor Hydro Electric and Unitil have already made the switch to various forms of automated meter reading, resulting in the loss of dozens of Union jobs. Now, Central Maine Power has asked the Maine Public Utilities Commission to grant a significant rate increase to pay for the installation of an automated system at Maine’s largest electric utility.
April 28, 2008 - After 10 years in our Rochester office, IBEW 1837 has relocated our New Hampshire office to Dover. Along with that move came an improved facility for conducting union business and working with our members in the Granite State.
IBEW Local 1837 will pursue an appeal of the March 20th National Labor Relations Board decision that rejected the bid of PSNH Working Foremen in Hooksett, Milford and Derry to join the Union. The Working Foremen work shoulder-to-shoulder with our represented Lineworkers and perform nearly identical work for the Line Department.
Tentative agreement has been reached at Granite Ridge Energy in Londonderry, NH, for a first contract between IBEW 1837 and NAES (North American Energy Services). Following a union election and months of negotiation, the parties today (March 18, 2008) reached tentative agreement on a three-year contract package. The package will be voted on by eligible employees at Granite Ridge on Monday, March 24 between 4:00 and 9:00pm at the Plumbers and Pipefitters union hall in Hooksett.
What can seven members at a unit meeting do? (Besides come up with good ideas about things to put on a union t-shirt). They can VOTE. Unit members may want to make a motion to recommend something to the executive board. Unit members get to nominate people for elected union positions. Most actions of the Executive Board aren’t final unless the members vote to approve them. BUT……..The IBEW Constitution defines a quorum for union meetings as seven members. So if there aren’t seven members present there isn’t a quorum and we can discuss anything we want to but we won’t get to vote.