Unions Win Pledge from Comcast & Time Warner to Rehire Union Workers
Plenty of rumors have been circulating about the impact the huge Adelphia-Time Warner-Comcast transaction will have on cable workers' jobs, wages, and benefits. Adelphia especially has been trying to scare union-represented workers by suggesting that Time Warner and Comcast will hire only non-union workers — not union-represented workers.
Don't allow management to scare you with innuendo or false reports. Here are the facts as revealed in statements Time Warner and Comcast provided in their formal responses to questions posed by CWA and the IBEW, and to questions from community leaders, legislators, and regulators, who are also concerned about the transaction's impact on workers and consumers.
Time Warner, Comcast Give Stronger Assurances to Union-Represented Workers
In late November, Time Warner and Comcast agreed to rehire all union-represented workers affected by the transfer. The companies' responses follow intense pressure from the unions and local city council members. Earlier, the companies had refused to give any assurances concerning workers' jobs, future work locations, benefits or union recognition.
Time Warner Vice President for Corporate Relations Deane Leavenworth and Comcast's Vice President for Government Affairs Perry Parks III made an identically-stated promise in separate letters to Los Angeles City Councilmember Janice Hahn:
"I want to reiterate [Time Warner and Comcast's] agreement. . .to offer ALL employees, represented or not, positions of a similar or greater status, and aggregate compensation, at their current work locations if they so desire, subject to completion of the background checks and drug screenings that are a part of our customary employment conditions."
The companies also pledged to "engage in good faith negotiations" with workers' unions and "honor the letter and spirit of the law." Kevin Smith, Time Warner's chief council and Vice President for Labor Relations, assured CWA that all employees of the company, "top to bottom," are required to undergo drug tests and that lower level employees will not be singled out.
Details of the Transaction
Comcast and Time Warner, the first and second largest U.S. cable operators respectively, agreed to acquire Adelphia for $17 billion. Adelphia, with 5 million subscribers, is in bankruptcy. It is the 5th largest cable company.
Time Warner and Comcast agreed to "swap" various cable systems to increase their "clustering," or concentration, in specific markets. After these swaps, Time Warner would control Los Angeles, Dallas, Cleveland, and western New York; Comcast would control even larger areas than it currently holds in Philadelphia, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Massachusetts, Atlanta, Miami, Orlando, Minneapolis, and other regions.
When the transaction is complete, Comcast would have 26 million subscribers, and Time Warner, 16 million. Together, they would have 42 million subscribers, representing 57 percent of the nation's 74 million cable subscribers. When looking at the entire pay-TV market, including satellite, the companies would control access to 47 percent of the nation's 93 million pay-TV subscribers. The deal must be reviewed and approved by the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, the Bankruptcy Court overseeing Adelphia, and local cable franchise authorities across the country.
Timeline for completion
The FCC is not expected to complete its review until early 2006. In addition, a number of local franchise authorities still have to rule on the deal. Despite objections from some local governments (Mecklenburg and Nash counties in North Carolina, and Martinsville in Virginia have denied the transfer), the transaction is likely to be approved.
For cable workers, however, the real issue is not whether the cable deal is approved, but the following critical points:
(1) What assurances the companies will give us as workers and,
(2) What conditions will the FCC, the FTC and local franchise authorities attach to their approvals of the deal to protect workers, consumers, and communities.
