Updated -- Comcast/AT&T Broadband Technician Wins Settlement
Cable Worker Urges Workers to Stick Together
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Dermis Hernandez, 4th from left, receives his settlement award, from Dist. 3 CWA Rep Don LaRotonda, 3rd from left. Others pictured are CWA Local 3121 Pres. Norm Daniels, organizer Obed Tasis, Dusty Staley III, and Tony Santos, local board member. |
Dermis Hernandez, a former technician at AT&T Broadband (now Comcast) from Hialeah, FL, accepted a $5,500 settlement from the company some 17 months after the company unjustly terminated him.
Hernandez was terminated for traveling one block out of his work area while he was attempting to get a copy of his U.S. Navy activation orders.
The circumstances of his termination were simple. Hernandez requested a day off to get his affairs in order prior to being activated the following week. His immediate supervisor asked to see a copy of his orders to which he replied, “I’ll get them.”
Hernandez left his work area to go to a nearby recruiting office, but could not obtain a copy of this orders so he returned to work at his earlier assigned route. He was fired when he returned to the main work center at the end of the day. After serving one year at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, Hernandez accepted another job outside of the industry.
CWA filed unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board on the worker's behalf and the trial was set to begin when the company settled. At the time of the incident, the workers had not negotiated a first contract at Hialeah.
Following the settlement, Hernandez offered thanks for his co-workers’ and union’s support and urged cable workers to “stick together” in their efforts to organize their workplace and negotiate a first contract.
“I’d like to thank CWA for the help they provided in helping settle my dispute with the company. To all of the guys who worked hard on my behalf, thank you very much.” Hernandez urged cable workers not to back down in working for union representation.
“To all the people who are organizing at Comcast, or who have already won a union, my advise is to hang together and be patient. Improvements will only come if you stick together,” he said.
Hernandez was a leader of the union organizing drive that brought CWA representation to AT&T Broadband in Hialeah, Florida.
