Workers vote for unions because they want to improve their lives at work. When there is delay and improvements are not made, the union can look weak, and the workers may lose heart. Employers know that—in fact, that is often their plan.
After the vote, Cablevision spent millions trying to shed the union. Early on, its lawyers rejected bargaining dates offered by the union, providing one lame excuse after another. They failed to provide the union with needed information or gave the wrong information. While refusing to bargain with CWA over money issues for the Brooklyn workers, Cablevision gave all other workers in the company raises averaging 14 percent. CWA filed multiple unfair labor practice charges with the labor board.
Shortly before the first year was up, Cablevision illegally fired 22 workers. Its goal was to terrify the workforce into getting rid of the union. It failed. Cablevision fired even more workers. When the labor board refused to conduct another election because of Cablevision’s many violations of labor law, the company held its own illegal election to vote the union out.
Eventually the Cablevision workers and CWA won. It took more than five years. During those five years, the Brooklyn Cablevision workers organized, marched, demonstrated, testified, petitioned and held strong. Many charges were filed at the labor board and multiple trials were held, two lasting longer than 20 days each. The NLRB considered seeking an injunction in federal court against the company; Cablevision finally put a serious offer on the bargaining table.
Gabrielle Semel is a retired union-side labor lawyer. She was District Counsel for CWA in New York City for more than 30 years. Before working for CWA, she was as an NLRB attorney in Manhattan. She is currently working on a book about the labor battle at Cablevision.
The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.
