In Maine: IBEW Local 1837 16 Old Winthrop Road Manchester, ME 04351 Phone: (207) 623-1030, Fax: (207) 621-8384 In New Hampshire: 680 Central Avenue, Suite 201 Dover, NH 03820 Phone: (603) 743-1652, Fax: (603) 743-1654
May 14, 2020 - A contract extension has been signed by the Union and Eversource NH. The contract has been extended until August 30, 2020 to give the parties time to negotiate. The hope is we can start face to face negotiations soon. The extension provides for retroactive pay and benefits. Please help spread the word.
Wyman Station is on Cousins
Island in Yarmouth, Maine.
September 22, 2018 - IBEW 1837 members working for NextEra Energy at Maine’s Wyman Station ratified a 3-year contract extension earlier this week.
The idea of an extension to the collective bargaining agreement was initially proposed by Union Stewards at the oil-fired power plant. IBEW 1837 Business Manager Dick Rogers brought the idea to the Company, who initially offered a 1.5% wage increase each year for three years with no other changes to the contract.
After some discussions between Rogers and the Company, the offer was improved to a wage increase of 2% in each of the first two years and 1.5% in the third year. A $750 ratification bonus was also in the Company’s extension offer. Again, there were no other changes to the contract.
NextEra members voted on Monday, September 17, to ratify the extension. The Union represents 32 workers at the Yarmouth, Maine power plant.
The extension comes at a challenging time for oil-fired generation and as the company announced plans to take two of Wyman Station’s four units offline.
Under the new agreement, WGME's
News Photographers like David Hill
will receive hazardous duty pay during
some snowstorms.
September 20, 2018 - IBEW 1837 members working for Sinclair Broadcasting Group’s Portland, Maine, television station ratified a new 3-year agreement this week after rejecting a previous offer from the company by a 37 – 5 margin and authorizing a strike. The overwhelming strike vote was the first at WGME-TV in 30 years and helped to persuade the Company to improve their wage offer beyond what they’ve been offering their other employees.
Wages for those at or above top scale will increase 6 ¾% over the 3-year agreement while other employees in the wage progression will receive larger step increases. News Editors will have their pay scale improved to the same level as Operating Technicians, a longtime priority of the Union given the increasing workload and responsibilities of News Editors and their previous low pay.
“We’re very proud that our members at WGME-TV were willing to stand up and stand together to get a better contract,” IBEW 1837 Business Manager Dick Rogers said. “They sent a strong message to the Company that they were unhappy.”
Other improvements include hazardous duty pay for News Photographers who drive during snowstorms when a state of emergency has been declared and the addition of drone photography for news and commercials to the jurisdiction of the bargaining unit. A Company proposal for mandatory, unpaid “on call” status for some employees on weekends was ultimately dropped in exchange for the Union’s promise to “strenuously” encourage our members to respond to emergent weekend calls for overtime and an obligation to work collaboratively with the Company to come up with an on-call system if it becomes necessary.
IBEW Local 1837 is on strike at the New Hampshire Electric Co-op (NHEC). The Company is attacking our retirement plans and the right to bargain over possible changes to them.
We have begun collecting gift cards for our members for Hannaford Supermarkets and Mobil or Irving Gas (the most common stations in NHEC territory). Gift cards can be mailed to: IBEW Local #1837 (NHEC Strike Support), 680 Central Avenue, Suite 202, Dover, NH 03820.
Signs of solidarity from other union members and community supporters would be welcomed by joining our picket line at any NHEC location including those listed below. Picketing runs from 6:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. every day until further notice:
Union members prepared signs last
night in anticipation of a possible strike.
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.
