Business Manager Tony Sapienza
P: (603) 743-1652
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.
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.
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.
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.”
January 29, 2011 - The collective bargaining rights of IBEW 1837 members and all union members in Maine and New Hampshire are being threatened by so-called “Right-to-Work” legislation being considered in Augusta and Concord. They’re often called “Right-to-Work (For Less)” laws because workers in 22 states that already have them tend to get paid less money and have worse benefits.
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.
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.
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 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 8, 2010 - When a Maine union local with more than 1,000 members endorses a candidate for Governor, it’s a pretty big deal. It’s an even bigger deal when it’s a union local that rarely makes endorsements.
At the meeting of our IBEW 1837 Executive Board in Manchester on August 20, our elected unit representatives voted overwhelmingly to endorse Libby Mitchell for Governor. The decision was made largely because of Mitchell’s support for workers throughout Maine, but in particular, her support for members of our own union.