UNION LEADERS RESPOND TO NURSES ASSOCIATION ENDORSEMENT OF UTILITY TAKEOVER

September 27, 2023
For immediate release
Contact: Willy Ritch 207-841-8400|[email protected]

A coalition to oppose Question 3 continues to grow. Twelve thousand individual Mainers have signed onto the Maine Affordable Energy Coalition, joining numerous business and labor organizations, including the electrical workers union, IBEW, and AFL-CIO, as well as groups as diverse as the Maine Hospital Association, the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine and the Maine State Chamber of Commerce.

Labor leaders from a wide variety of unions—representing IBEW, the Maine AFL-CIO, Building Trades, Teamsters and the unions representing shipbuilders at BIW—have come out against the Pine Tree Power proposal to seize CMP and Versant, urging a no vote on Question 3 in November.

The Maine State Nurses Association, the union representing some nurses in Maine, came out in favor of Question 3 today—the only labor union in Maine to support a yes vote. Matt Beck, IBEW 1837 Business Representative and 35-year IBEW 1837 member, responded to the endorsement:

IBEW workers know how important it is to keep the lights on for all Mainers—especially for the caregivers working in our hospitals. And we also know that while this referendum does nothing to guarantee any improvement in service or reliability, it does run the risk of undermining the labor rights of our members and hurting our union. IBEW has always been proud to support the Maine State Nurses Association and we will continue to, but we’re disappointed that they took this stand today.

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