Union at WGME 13 Ratifies Contract Agreement

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1837 and the Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc., have reached a final agreement on a three-year contract. Union members at WGME-TV, Channel 13, have approved the deal by a comfortable margin. The union’s bargaining team had recommended passage of the agreement.

The contract is effective from April 1, 2006, through March 31, 2009. It includes pay increases each year for all represented employees as well as retroactive pay back to December 1, 2004, when the previous contract expired. It also contains strong union security language that the workers had sought.

The agreement follows a series of demonstrations in Portland and Lewiston amid charges that Sinclair was engaging in union-busting. IBEW workers at WGME were joined by a broad coalition of union supporters and community activists.