Search News
For the Media
For media inquiries, call CWA Communications at 202-434-1168 or email comms@cwa-union.org. To read about CWA Members, Leadership or Industries, visit our About page.
NLRB Sets Hearing Over Comcast Firing
Region 5 of the National Labor Relations Board has issued a complaint against Comcast in the firing of Stephen White, a technician who was terminated while trying to help his co-workers in Montgomery County, Md. win CWA representation. The board has scheduled a hearing before an administrative law judge for Aug. 30 in Washington, D.C.
The complaint arises out of unfair labor practice charges CWA filed on
June 1, alleging that Comcast discriminated against White in developing a paper trail of progressive discipline leading to his termination on March 1, "thereby discouraging membership in a labor organization in violation of (the National Labor Relations) Act."
White's case has been spotlighted in recent weeks as an example of the kinds of abuses Comcast workers around the country face in organizing and struggling to win first contracts in the face of systematic union-busting by the cable giant.
White testified before a recent Jobs with Justice Workers' Rights Board in Washington, and then he appeared on the podium with AFL-CIO President John Sweeney at the Democratic National Convention in Boston, along with other victims of corporate workers' rights violations.
He said the real reason he was fired is that management learned workers were organizing. His last day on the job, he walked up to a co-worker's truck. "We had decided when we saw a union supporter training a new technician, we would tell them to also talk to them about the union."
The co-worker cleared his throat, contorted his face and winked at White, trying to give him some non-verbal cue to be quiet.
Not picking up on the signal, White continued to talk about CWA. The man riding with his co-worker, it turned out, was a new manager that nobody knew who was dressed as a technician trainee.
"He went back and told his manager, and at the end of the day I was fired," White said.
The NLRB took the unusual step of combining White's case with another complaint of Comcast unfair labor practices involving a Teamster campaign, also in suburban Maryland. Taking up both cases at the hearing will help show the pattern of Comcast misconduct, say CWA lawyers.
The complaint arises out of unfair labor practice charges CWA filed on
June 1, alleging that Comcast discriminated against White in developing a paper trail of progressive discipline leading to his termination on March 1, "thereby discouraging membership in a labor organization in violation of (the National Labor Relations) Act."
White's case has been spotlighted in recent weeks as an example of the kinds of abuses Comcast workers around the country face in organizing and struggling to win first contracts in the face of systematic union-busting by the cable giant.
White testified before a recent Jobs with Justice Workers' Rights Board in Washington, and then he appeared on the podium with AFL-CIO President John Sweeney at the Democratic National Convention in Boston, along with other victims of corporate workers' rights violations.
He said the real reason he was fired is that management learned workers were organizing. His last day on the job, he walked up to a co-worker's truck. "We had decided when we saw a union supporter training a new technician, we would tell them to also talk to them about the union."
The co-worker cleared his throat, contorted his face and winked at White, trying to give him some non-verbal cue to be quiet.
Not picking up on the signal, White continued to talk about CWA. The man riding with his co-worker, it turned out, was a new manager that nobody knew who was dressed as a technician trainee.
"He went back and told his manager, and at the end of the day I was fired," White said.
The NLRB took the unusual step of combining White's case with another complaint of Comcast unfair labor practices involving a Teamster campaign, also in suburban Maryland. Taking up both cases at the hearing will help show the pattern of Comcast misconduct, say CWA lawyers.