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Comcast Forum Makes Case for Employee Free Choice
Nearly 400 union members and concerned citizens turned out for a public forum in Pittsburgh to hear Comcast workers tell how they have struggled for years to form a union, have been denied first contracts and why they and all of America need the Employee Free Choice Act.
Speaking out in a show of support were CWA President Morton Bahr and Vince Maisano, former District 13 vice president who is Bahr's special assistant for Comcast organizing; Donald C. Siegel, IBEW 3rd District international vice president; and Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.), an Employee Free Choice Act co-sponsor.
The forum was organized by CWA, Jobs with Justice, the IBEW, the state AFL-CIO and the Allegheny Central Labor Council.
Bahr applauded the courage of four Comcast workers from Pennsylvania and elsewhere, who spoke ahead of him, and of 118 in Dallas who recently chose CWA in a National Labor Relations Board election.
"It's very heartening to see that no matter what the company does to them, these workers will fight to have a union. They keep coming on strong," Bahr said.
More than 450 Comcast workers in Pennsylvania, organized three years ago, still do not have a contract. "The Dallas workers know how hard it will be to get a contact," Bahr said. "They've seen this company's union-busting tactics, and they've seen what the workers here in Pennsylvania have been up against."
Maisano said Comcast's opposition to unions is "philosophical. To settle any of these contracts would not put any burden on Comcast. Instead, they want us to settle for less than what the unorganized have. They just don't want us to be able to say, 'look what we were able to do.' If we had the Employee Free Choice Act, Comcast couldn't do what it has been doing to us, fighting our organizing drives, and these workers would be guaranteed a first contract. This is a big issue."
Doyle has joined the list of 194 House co-sponsors of the bipartisan legislation, H.R. 1696. His Republican colleague, Senator Arlen Specter, is one of the principal sponsors of the Senate version, S. 842, which currently has 38 co-sponsors.
The Employee Free Choice Act would allow workers to choose a union through card check recognition, would stiffen penalties for company interference in organizing drives and would provide for mediation and binding arbitration in first-contract disputes.
Kevin Beallis, an IBEW steward and Comcast service technician in Chicago, described how after Comcast's acquisition of AT&T was completed in November 2002, nonunion workers were offered discounted Comcast services, but "they said that because we were part of the bargaining unit, discounted services would have to be negotiated. We were being discriminated against because of our union affiliation." His bargaining unit has not had a contract since 1999.
Ed Martin, a service technician at Comcast in Beaver Falls, Pa., from September 1998 until last September, participated in three organizing attempts with co-workers. He was fired for a minor infraction of Comcast's rules that was overlooked in workers who were not pro-union. He described one of Comcast's strategies for pitting worker against worker: "They required new computerized tests in an attempt to weed out older workers, and used the threat of layoffs as a way of scaring the younger workers into not wanting a union."
Curt Hess works for Comcast in Plum, Pa. In 2001 he and co-workers formed a union under a neutrality agreement CWA negotiated with AT&T. After beating back a decertification attempt by handily winning a second representation election, his unit is still fighting to secure a first contract, he said.
Tracy Mower, a member of CWA Local 13000 in Pittsburgh, said his unit has been working without a contract for the last five years while Comcast has failed to give workers raises and drastically increased their health care costs.
"This is why we need the Employee Free Choice Act," Mower said. "It's time for a change at Comcast."
Speaking out in a show of support were CWA President Morton Bahr and Vince Maisano, former District 13 vice president who is Bahr's special assistant for Comcast organizing; Donald C. Siegel, IBEW 3rd District international vice president; and Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.), an Employee Free Choice Act co-sponsor.
The forum was organized by CWA, Jobs with Justice, the IBEW, the state AFL-CIO and the Allegheny Central Labor Council.
Bahr applauded the courage of four Comcast workers from Pennsylvania and elsewhere, who spoke ahead of him, and of 118 in Dallas who recently chose CWA in a National Labor Relations Board election.
"It's very heartening to see that no matter what the company does to them, these workers will fight to have a union. They keep coming on strong," Bahr said.
More than 450 Comcast workers in Pennsylvania, organized three years ago, still do not have a contract. "The Dallas workers know how hard it will be to get a contact," Bahr said. "They've seen this company's union-busting tactics, and they've seen what the workers here in Pennsylvania have been up against."
Maisano said Comcast's opposition to unions is "philosophical. To settle any of these contracts would not put any burden on Comcast. Instead, they want us to settle for less than what the unorganized have. They just don't want us to be able to say, 'look what we were able to do.' If we had the Employee Free Choice Act, Comcast couldn't do what it has been doing to us, fighting our organizing drives, and these workers would be guaranteed a first contract. This is a big issue."
Doyle has joined the list of 194 House co-sponsors of the bipartisan legislation, H.R. 1696. His Republican colleague, Senator Arlen Specter, is one of the principal sponsors of the Senate version, S. 842, which currently has 38 co-sponsors.
The Employee Free Choice Act would allow workers to choose a union through card check recognition, would stiffen penalties for company interference in organizing drives and would provide for mediation and binding arbitration in first-contract disputes.
Kevin Beallis, an IBEW steward and Comcast service technician in Chicago, described how after Comcast's acquisition of AT&T was completed in November 2002, nonunion workers were offered discounted Comcast services, but "they said that because we were part of the bargaining unit, discounted services would have to be negotiated. We were being discriminated against because of our union affiliation." His bargaining unit has not had a contract since 1999.
Ed Martin, a service technician at Comcast in Beaver Falls, Pa., from September 1998 until last September, participated in three organizing attempts with co-workers. He was fired for a minor infraction of Comcast's rules that was overlooked in workers who were not pro-union. He described one of Comcast's strategies for pitting worker against worker: "They required new computerized tests in an attempt to weed out older workers, and used the threat of layoffs as a way of scaring the younger workers into not wanting a union."
Curt Hess works for Comcast in Plum, Pa. In 2001 he and co-workers formed a union under a neutrality agreement CWA negotiated with AT&T. After beating back a decertification attempt by handily winning a second representation election, his unit is still fighting to secure a first contract, he said.
Tracy Mower, a member of CWA Local 13000 in Pittsburgh, said his unit has been working without a contract for the last five years while Comcast has failed to give workers raises and drastically increased their health care costs.
"This is why we need the Employee Free Choice Act," Mower said. "It's time for a change at Comcast."