PSNH "Writers" Vote to Join IBEW 1837; 100% of Eligible Voters Cast Ballots

The Field Technicians and Field Technician Specialists at Public Service Company of New Hampshire (PSNH) have voted to join IBEW Local 1837. 100% of the 35 eligible employees (who are also known as "Writers") participated by mail ballot in the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) election. Representatives of the Union and the Company were on hand as the votes were tallied at the NLRB office in Boston on the morning of July 20, 2007.

The Union's election victory came at the end of a long and difficult campaign. After IBEW filed the petition to represent the "Writers" for the purpose of collective bargaining, PSNH proposed that the 35 Field Technicians and Field Technician Specialists be split up into 13 or 14 different bargaining units. Following a hearing on May 15 and 16, the NLRB’s Regional Director specifically found that “the Employer’s proposed units, each composed of a complement of two to four employees, are too small to warrant finding them appropriate.”

IBEW was alarmed and disappointed that PSNH waged a relentless and months-long campaign against the Writers' effort to join our union. PSNH hired an anti-union attorney to conduct mandatory anti-union meetings while refusing requests to grant Union representatives equal access.