In an AFL-CIO Town Hall forum broadcast by the non-profit Pennsylvania Cable TV Network (PCN) this July, the program's audience heard four Comcast cable workers describe their company's refusal to bargain fairly.
They heard how Comcast intimidated union supporters, sometimes driving along with them in their trucks. They heard how Comcast openly encouraged union decertifications, and how the company had not offered any of its CWA-represented employees in Pennsylvania (and just about everywhere else in the U.S.) a serious bargaining proposal for as many as 5 years.
Speaking at the town meeting were Kevin Beallis, a Comcast service tech from Chicago represented by the IBEW; and CWA-represented Pittsburgh Comcast workers Curt Hess, a maintenance technician, and Tracy Mower, a service technician. A fourth worker, Ed Martin, a former service tech, was fired by Comcast for his union activity.
Their testimony surprised many who watched the program across Pennsylvania, who were otherwise unaware of Comcast's refusal to bargain fairly, or its efforts to bust its employees' unions.
Yet, without a doubt, the most shocked "viewer" in Pennsylvania was Comcast management. That's because Comcast carries the PCN channel as one of its hundreds of programming choices.
Each year, it has broadcast the PCN's AFL-CIO town hall coverage and repeats the program several times during its first week of airing. But this year's town meeting managed to air just twice before PCN, very likely under pressure from Comcast, pulled the plug without warning.
Some 3 million Comcast subscribers are estimated to have viewed the program before it was pulled. Recordings of the program were also unavailable even though it is PCN's policy to make all programs available for purchase. The workers' unions were told that the tape for the program was "broken" and therefore not available.
Broken promises
Comcast said that it "would be eager to work" with us once its merger with AT&T Broadband was complete, said Chicago-based Comcast service tech Kevin Beallis. "Worker morale was high and we thought things could only get better," he recalls.
Their last contract expired in 1999 and AT&T Broadband had tried to get rid of the union by hiring anti-union attorneys and stalling negotiations. Yet, when negotiations began in Jan. 2003 the company wanted to take workers back to 1996 wage levels.
Pittsburgh-based maintenance tech Curt Hess also said the company stalled bargaining talks with the workers until it could legally encourage its employees to decertify their union. Despite Comcast's anti-union tactics and decertification pressure, the workers have twice voted to keep their union.
The workers first organized the former AT&T Broadband unit in Nov. 2001 with 70 percent support. "No one should have to wait 4 years to have a contract after multiple elections indicating majority support for our union," said Hess.
Service tech Tracy Mower's cable company in Westmoreland Hills, PA, had been union for 27 years before it was bought by Comcast. Yet Mower and his co-workers have been without a contract since their previous contract expired in Dec. 2000. "The company has refused to engage in any meaningful negotiations," he says. "Comcast simply refuses to budge on even the simplest proposals."
For these reasons, Comcast workers, CWA and IBEW, are urging Congress to pass the Employees' Free Choice Act (S. 843 and H.R. 1696). The legislation would require first contract negotiations to go to mandatory arbitration if an agreement could not be reached after a reasonable amount of time. This would prevent companies from purposely dragging out negotiations to frustrate workers and get them to vote out their unions. The legislation would also strengthen penalties against companies that violate workers' representation and collective bargaining rights.
E-mail or write the Pennsylvania Cable Network to protest the censorship of the cable workers' testimony. E-mail Brian Lockman, President and Chief Executive Officer at brianlockman@pcntv.com, and William J. Bova, Vice President, Programming, at billbova@pcntv.com. You may also write them care of the Pennsylvania Cable Network at 401 Fallowfield Road, Camp Hill, PA 17011.
