WGME workers win! | Millinocket Nurses | Honoring Charlie & more

IN THIS EDITION:

• IBEW 1837 Members at WGME-TV Ratify New Contract After Contentious Negotiations
  
• Why 100% of Millinocket Nurses Decided to Get the COVID-19 Vaccine
• SMART Local 17 Is Going Strong & Seeking Apprentices
• Worker Candidate Training: Jan. 29th - 30th, 2022
• Maine AFL-CIO moves Legislation to Honor Charlie Scontras and Promote Labor Education
• Labor Reading Group to Read Gabriel Winant's "The Next Shift"
• Buy Maine Local Union-Made Gear for the Holidays from American Roots

IBEW Local 1837 Members at WGME-TV Ratify New Contract After Contentious Negotiations 

Members of IBEW Local 1837 at WGME-TV 13 in Portland have approved a new 3-year contract agreement with substantial raises in 2022 for all members in all job classifications, ranging from 5.2 percent up to 49.9 percent. Most members will see a wage increase of at least 7 percent in 2022, followed by an additional 5 percent over the next two years.

IBEW 1837 represents more than 40 people who work behind the scenes at WGME-TV 13 as well as WPFO-TV 23, a Fox affiliate. Both are owned and operated by Maryland-based Sinclair Broadcast Group. These hardworking broadcast professionals include the operating technicians, news editors, assignment editors, photographers, engineers, producers and directors who create and produce a variety of news and public service programs, commercials and special projects. 

The contract vote came after a series of union meetings starting in early summer where members prepared contract proposals and discussed the problems they were having at work. Like many workers, they first struggled to do their jobs through the pandemic and later had to contend with a ransomware attack against Sinclair that forced them to scramble just to keep the stations on the air.

When the company’s wage offer during negotiations fell far short of what the union negotiating team was seeking, members voted overwhelmingly to reject the company offer and authorize a strike.

While the Union’s lead negotiator continued discussions with a federal mediator and company attorney, members got organized and prepared to strike, painting picket signs and recruiting volunteer phone tree captains to keep members informed. 

Eventually, the company found more money and improved their wage offer, finally showing the appreciation for the value of their employees that they had expressed across the bargaining table. This led to a union negotiating committee recommendation to approve the contract and another membership vote, this time ending in ratification. 

“I want to congratulate our lead negotiator Dick Rogers for his great work on this,” said IBEW 1837 Business Manager Tony Sapienza, “along with the rest of the negotiating committee: Chief Steward Jack Amrock, Kaitlyn Hegarty, Matt Beck and Pierre Maurice. They did a great job. I appreciate the unwavering support that our members gave our committee from the very beginning of this process. That’s what we need to get good contracts.”

"I am proud of our membership,” said Chief Steward Jack Amrock. “They had the courage to say 'No, this is not good enough!' to them. While we didn't get everything we were looking for, we have laid the foundation for the future and have sent a message to the company that we expect to be treated fairly and won't be taken advantage of anymore."

Why 100% of Millinocket Hospital Staff Decided to Get the COVID-19 Vaccine

Earlier this fall, Millinocket Regional Hospital (MRH) reported that 100% of the staff had received their COVID-19 vaccines. As Maine Public reported in September, MRH already had the highest vaccination rate in the state with 98% of staff vaccinated — several weeks before the Mills administration’s deadline for health care workers to be immunized against the deadly virus. The other two percent got vaccinated shortly after.

MRH nurse Dyana Gallant — who works in the Med-Surg Inpatient unit, is a nurse educator and serves as secretary for the Maine State Nurses Association, NNU Local 1082 — said there were a number of factors that influenced the nurses to get the vaccine,including a large COVID-19 outbreak that claimed several lives in the Millinocket area in 2020. She said the hospital’s infection control team also did an excellent job of educating and engaging in conversations with staff while thoroughly responding to any questions and concerns they had.“People were able to come to that decision on their own and didn’t feel forced,” said Gallant. “We’re also a small facility and we are friends and family, a pretty close-knit community. I recognize that by myself getting vaccinated, it will most likely prevent me from getting hospitalized and making my coworkers care for me. It just felt really good to be proactive for once instead of just reactive. It was a breath of fresh air to have some hope.“Meanwhile, as hospitals across the state fill up with unvaccinated patients with COVID-19, Gallant urges other union members to “try to the look at the bigger picture” and recognize that their individual actions have an impact on their co-workers and the broader Maine community.“It has a ripple effect,” she said. “We trust science and medical experts for so many other aspects of our jobs. I’m going to do my job because they trust me with my knowledge and expertise, so I’m going to let them do their job and will trust their judgement and expertise.”

SMART Local 17 Is Going Strong & Seeking Apprentices

Sheetmetal Workers (SMART) Local 17 has been busy at worksites throughout Maine, including the Biddeford Court House (photo above), and is seeking journeymen and apprentices to join the local. Sheetmetal working is a diverse trade that includes work in paper mills, commercial and residential buildings, architectural tasks, HVAC, welding, air balancing and more. 

SMART 17 covers all of Maine and has an office and training center in Lewiston. Don Nazaroff, the labor representative for Local 17, says normally Local 17's registered apprenticeship courses run from September to May, but the union will take applicants to start now. 

“It’s not just a job, it’s a career,” said Nazaroff. “Our members earn living wages and receive quality health care and a pension. They learn while they earn without incurring any debt at the end. On top of all that, you have a voice in how the local operates and you have union representation. And once they go through the four-year apprenticeship, they have that ticket in their hand they can find work in any state and any local in the country.”

If you or someone you know is interested in applying to be a Sheetmetal worker or apprentice call Don Nazaroff at 207-514-6680 or email dnazaroff@smart-nerc.org

Come to Our 2022 Worker Candidate Training: Jan. 29th - 30th, 2022

Are you or someone you know interested in running for the State Legislature or a local office? Do you want to see more working people serving in the Maine Legislature or on your town council or school board? Consider joining us for our 2022 Worker Candidate Training this January 29th and 30th in Augusta.

CLICK HERE TO APPLY FOR OUR 2022 WORKER CANDIDATE TRAINING

At our Worker Candidate Training we'll spend two days going over everything you need to know to run a campaign for elected office. You’ll learn how to create a campaign plan, knock on doors, speak in public, qualify for Clean Elections funding, develop a message, build a team of volunteers, and other key aspects of campaigning. You can attend if you are interested in running for office, learning more or helping out on campaigns.

Since we plan to meet in person, attendees should plan to follow these COVID-19 safety protocols:

1. Provide proof of vaccination
2. Wear a mask
3. Rapid tests are available upon arrival
4. Socially distance spacing for when people eat or drink

If you are interested or just want to learn more, please email adam@maineaflcio.org or call him at 207-991-7000 or reach out to Sarah Bigney-McCabe at sarah@maineaflcio.orgover the next couple weeks while Adam is on paternity leave.

Maine AFL-CIO Moves Legislation to Honor Charlie Scontras & Strengthen Labor Education in Maine

Charlie Scontras was Maine's great labor historian. He wrote dozens of books on Maine labor history and inspired many of us to learn from the collective struggles of workers and unions who have come before us.  More than any other human being, he kept alive thousands of stories of Maine workers, our unions and the long fight for rights, dignity and organization in the workplace. 

Charlie passed away earlier this year at the age of 91. We wanted to figure out a way to honor Charlie and to continue his life's work around labor education. That's why the Maine AFL-CIO, the Southern Maine Labor Council and Maine House Speaker Ryan Fecteau have developed legislation to strengthen labor education in Maine and create the “Dr. Charles A. Scontras Labor Center” at the University of Southern Maine.   

The bill, “An Act to Honor Dr. Charles A. Scontras and Promote Labor Education through the University of Maine system,” sponsored by Speaker Ryan Fecteau, will increase funding for the University of Maine's Bureau of Labor Education to expand its important work.

It will also will provide funding to establish a new labor and community education center at USM - named in honor of Charlie - focused on providing lifelong community-based labor education, research and outreach. 

If passed, the center will offer labor education for students, unions and especially the community at large as well as host regular trainings and workshops, policy seminars, working class oral history projects, conferences, symposia, speakers and films that address issues of concern to Maine's working people such as labor law and workers’ rights, discrimination, labor history, quality of work life and lots more. 

This legislation will strengthen labor education throughout our great state. We're going to need your help to pass this bill into law, whether it’s spreading the word to fellow union members and our allies, contacting your legislators or testifying in Augusta. Please reply to me if you would like to be involved in this campaign.

Labor Reading Group to Read The Next Shift: The Fall of Industry and the Rise of Health Care in Rust Belt America”

The Maine Labor Reading Group has selected “The Next Shift: The Fall of Industry and the Rise of Health Care in Rust Belt America” by Gabriel Winant for our next book to begin discussing in January. If you do not already have the book but want to read with us, we will supply the book for you. You can sign up here to let us know you’ll be reading with us. But don't worry — you don’t have to come to every discussion!

“The Next Shift” discusses the city of Pittsburgh’s transition from a predominantly blue collar union manufacturing economy to one dominated by the service industry, particularly health care, and the potential for building worker power in this mainly non-union field.

Here’s the blurb from the publisher’s webpage about the book:

Gabriel Winant takes us inside the Rust Belt to show how America’s cities have weathered new economic realities. In Pittsburgh’s neighborhoods, he finds that a new working class has emerged in the wake of deindustrialization. 

As steelworkers and their families grew older, they required more health care. Even as the industrial economy contracted sharply, the care economy thrived. Hospitals and nursing homes went on hiring sprees. But many care jobs bear little resemblance to the manufacturing work the city lost. Unlike their blue-collar predecessors, home health aides and hospital staff work unpredictable hours for low pay. And the new working class disproportionately comprises women and people of color.

Today health care workers are on the front lines of our most pressing crises, yet we have been slow to appreciate that they are the face of our twenty-first-century workforce. The Next Shift offers unique insights into how we got here and what could happen next. If health care employees, along with other essential workers, can translate the increasing recognition of their economic value into political power, they may become a major force in the twenty-first century.

If you have a moment, listen to this great podcast interview with author Gabriel Winant about  ”Next Shift” and read some of the reviews of the book here.

Buy Maine Union Made Gear for the Holidays from American Roots

Are you looking for some local UNION-made gifts this holiday season? Check out American Roots! USW Local 366 workers at the Westbrook-based factory produce excellent quality T-shirts, hoodies, hats, face masks and other apparel. You don’t have to worry about them getting stuck on a container ship because they’re made right here!

American Roots can also screen print or embroider your union’s logo or whatever you’d like put on the apparel. Buying from American Roots and other union companies not only puts money into the local economy, but it also supports good-paying union jobs. Buy Local. Buy American. Buy Union. Wear your values.

Check out this little video of USW 366 workers working to meet the Holiday rush!

American Roots is offering discounted rates now through December 20th. Email them at info@americanrootswear.com, call them directly at 207-854-4098, or visit their website: americanrootswear.com!