Inside IBEW 1837

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.

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.

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..

October 14, 2010 - Workers at Granite Ridge Energy in Londonderry, New Hampshire are preparing to negotiate the successor agreement to their first union contract. The power plant workers voted to join IBEW Local #1837 on August 4, 2006, though it took until March of 2008 to complete negotiations on the first contract. The represented workers include all 20 maintenance and operating personnel at the plant. Their first contract runs through March 26, 2011.

October 15, 2010 - Months of uncertainty for more than 125 members of IBEW Local #1837 followed the February 2010 final approval from the Maine Public Utilities Commission that gave Central Maine Power the green light to move forward with their Automated Metering Infrastructure project. Once the AMI was complete and CMP’s residential and business customers had so-called “Smart Meters” installed, the positions of Revenue Data Readers and other workers in the Revenue Service department were slated for elimination.

October 21, 2010 - Northeast Utilities, the owner ofPublic Service Company of New Hampshire, will purchase NStar for $4.17 Billion in a deal that both companies describe as a “merger.” If approved by federal and state regulators as well as shareholders, the new company will be New England’s largest utility with a total of 3.5 million electric and gas customers in New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut. The merged company will have a total enterprise value of $17.5 Billion, according to a joint statement.

December 5, 2010 - With the impending layoff of dozens of CMP meter readers and the imminent early retirement of an unknown number of CMP workers age 55 and older, IBEW members met in Gardiner to discuss the impact on the Union and the Company in the weeks and months ahead.

January 18, 2011 - An attractive package of incentives at Central Maine Power Company has led to the early retirement from the Company of four Chief Stewards and the Treasurer of IBEW Local 1837. Chief Stewards Dale Blethen, Rodney Curtis, Gilbert Guevin, Barry Ripley and Treasurer Donald Leighton retired from CMP in January.

“I could go on and on about what these brothers have done for Local 1837,” said Assistant Business Manager Bill Dunn. “They have been great activists for us and tireless fighters for the union movement. It will be a big hole to fill.”

February 17, 2011 - WGME-TV, Channel 13 in Portland is one of almost five dozen stations owned by Sinclair Broadcasting that have been placed on the nationwide AFL-CIO boycott list because of a labor dispute here in Maine. The station unilaterally implemented portions of a contract offer one year ago on February 17, 2010, despite the opposition of the workers and their Union.

March 25, 2011 - Four Warehouse Workers at the New Hampshire Electric Cooperative (NHEC) ratified their first contract on Friday, March 25. It took almost nine months and 25 negotiating sessions to reach this important milestone.

The term of the contract is through September 2012. IBEW 1837 will be negotiating both the Warehouse Workers’ and the larger NHEC bargaining unit future agreements at the same time.

April 12, 2011 - Members of IBEW Local 1837 have been playing an active role in worker efforts to push back against union-busting legislation both Maine and New Hampshire. At rallies, vigils, in testimony at public hearings and in meetings with legislative representatives, Brothers and Sisters in our Local have been speaking out against efforts to weaken all unions and to even to strip some public sector workers of their rights to collectively bargain.

May 11, 2011 - Local 1837 members at the Granite Ridge power plant near Londonderry ratified their second contract agreement on last month, giving them a more than 9 percent wage increase over the life of the three-year deal (3 ½%, 3%, 3%), streamlined grievance and arbitration procedures, an extra paid holiday, and an increase in the call-out premium with less than 24 hours notice.

June 17, 2011 - Union officers and representatives including President, Vice President, Treasurer, Recording Secretary, Business Manager, Executive Board Representatives for each of the 11 units, and delegates to the IBEW International Convention were elected this month. Ballots were counted this morning at our Manchester, Maine office.

Dick Rogers was elected to his first term as Financial Secretary and Business Manager of the Local.

July 8, 2011 - IBEW Local 1837 members working at Central Maine Power Company in the Technical and Administrative Bargaining Unit have ratified a new contract, their second since joining the union. After six weeks of negotiations, the membership followed the recommendation of their IBEW Negotiating Committee and approved the Company's offer. The final tally of votes was 85% to accept and 15% to reject and authorize a strike.