UAW Grad Workers and UWUA Local B341 Affiliate with Maine AFL-CIO
The University of Maine Graduate Workers, UAW Local 7650, and the Utility Workers of America Local B341 have officially affiliated with the Maine AFL-CIO. The UMaine Graduate Workers, who formed UAW Local 7650, successfully unionized in late September 2023 after launching their campaign in March 2023. It took them over two years, or 765 days, to secure their first contract due to university stalling, leading to their local number 7650. This local represents approximately 900 to 1,000 part-time graduate student workers across all University of Maine campuses. UWUA Local B341, chartered in 1953, represents workers delivering natural gas to customers in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine, specifically from Kittery to Lewiston. This local previously represented employees of the Portland Gas Light Company and the Lewiston Gas Light Company, which later became part of Northern Utilities and then Unitil in 1984.
