Cablevision CEO Dolan Intimidates Workers in Sham Vote

CWA members have rejected as illegal and a sham a vote conducted by a contractor hired by Cablevision management in Brooklyn this week. Replete with voting irregularities and intimidation, this phony vote is just the latest step by CEO James Dolan to intimidate union members that has included illegal mass firings, bad-faith bargaining, and other actions intended to break workers' support for their union.

Apparently, this sham vote is intended to pressure techs, members of CWA Local 1109, into dropping their fight for a fair contract, but the workers remain united.

CWA President Larry Cohen said, "In my decades of organizing I have never seen such arrogant actions as those taken by billionaire CEO Jim Dolan. Dolan's Tuesday night captive audience meeting followed, within hours, by the "Honest Ballot Association" vote is a new low in the behavior of American management. It is up to the rest of us to stop him and use this case as an example of what America has become."

CWA District One Vice President Chris Shelton issued this statement:

"The only election that matters happened almost three years ago when Cablevision workers voted 180-86 to join CWA in an election supervised by the Federal government. In June of 2013, 174 workers reaffirmed their support for the union in an advertisement printed in The Daily News. And just two months ago, despite the fear campaign, 189 Cablevision workers sent Dolan individually-signed petitions stating 'we're sticking with the union' and they continue to fight for parity in pay and treatment with workers outside of Brooklyn."