Cablevision threatened, bribed workers to stay non-union

The National Labor Relations Board found that Bronx, New York installation workers at Cablevision were subjected to an ugly company campaign against the Communications Workers of America. Cablevision alternately threatened and bribed workers to vote against joining CWA.

CWA appealed to the National Labor Relations Board and yesterday the board agreed with the union. According to The New York Times, the regional office of the NLRB is accusing:

“... Cablevision’s chief executive, James L. Dolan, of illegally telling the Bronx workers that they would be excluded from training and job opportunities if they voted to unionize. The board also said that Cablevision had improperly offered raises and improved benefits to its workers in the Bronx and elsewhere to deter them from joining a union.”

NLRB Director Karen Fernbach said that board would “...ask a judge to order Mr. Dolan to read aloud, probably on video, a statement acknowledging that Cablevision had acted illegally and promising not to engage in such activities again.”

Cablevision risked the law because in January 2012 workers in nearby Brooklyn voted 180 to 86 to join CWA. But, more than a year later, Cablevision continues to stall in its negotiations with the Brooklyn Cablevision unit. In an attempt to intimidate its workers, Cablevision illegally fired 22 union supporters and only rehired them under pressure from political and community leaders in New York City.

Speed Matters believes that every worker has the right to representation, and that this a choice that workers – not management – should make.

Cablevision’s Actions Illegal, Board Says (NY Times, Apr. 8, 2013)

Cablevision 22 Get Rehired, But the Fight for Workers’ Rights Continues (Speed Matters, Mar. 29, 2013)
http://www.speedmatters.org/blog/archive/cablevision-22-get-rehired-but-the-fight-for-workers-rights-continues/#.UWWayxlAuoU