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Ocean City AT&T Cable Workers Mount Mobilization for Contract
AT&T Broadband workers in Ocean City, Md., by mobilizing union and community support, have won assurance from Comcast Cable that the company will bargain with their union when it acquires the city franchise from AT&T on April 1. About 23 technicians voted for CWA representation last April and have been in bargaining since May 31.
CWA Local 2106, headquartered in Salisbury, Md., turned out more than 100 of its own members, workers from other unions in the Del-Mar-Va Peninsula Central Labor Council and community supporters for a city council meeting Jan. 16, when the council considered approving AT&T’s sale and transfer of its TCI Cablevision franchise to Comcast. It was the third city council meeting workers attended to fight for their job security and right to bargain as the transfer goes forward.
The local’s mobilization was supported by a CWA radio advertising campaign asking community residents to contact city council members and urge them to support workers in bargaining and to seek agreement from Comcast that workers’ jobs would be secure.
Missy Waller, local executive vice president, said that at the Jan. 16 meeting Comcast Vice President Brian Lynch said he misunderstood a question from the council when he responded in the negative at an earlier meeting.
“Comcast will recognize the bargaining unit at TCI Cablevision and will bargain in good faith,” Lynch told the workers and their supporters at the meeting.
“We accomplished our objective,” Waller said.
If there is a contract in place at the time of the transfer and at least half the bargaining unit remains, the new franchise owner is required by federal law to bargain with the union over what effects the acquisition will have on their wages and working conditions. Local President Barbara Mulvey said after the meeting, “We’ve made major movement in bargaining with AT&T in the last week. We’ll hopefully have a contract in place when Comcast takes over.”
Broadband technicans and Local 2106 members Paul Hudson and Jack Hall addressed the Jan. 16 council meeting. Claudia Seifert, whose clerical unit fell one vote short of CWA representation in an election last summer, joined them. Hall also spoke at the two previous meetings.
“While Comcast is a company with national presence, owners and franchise agreements come and go,” Hall pointed out. “Most of us are lifelong members of this community and take pride in providing service to our citizens.”
He noted that cable techs in Ocean City earn considerably less than the average nationwide and that a federal mediator, brought in after six months of bargaining with AT&T, recommended a significant increase over the life of their contract.
About 50 Local 2106 members and supporters — mobilized by the local, District 2 Organizing Coordinator Ron Collins and CWA Representative Richard Verlander — turned out for a city council meeting Jan. 3 in Ocean City. They came to make sure the council considered the workers’ value to the community as it decided whether to approve AT&T’s transfer of the franchise.
The local won the support of at least one council member when Hall testified at an earlier council meeting Dec. 18.
Verlander said City Councilman Vincent Gisriel Jr., mindful of the city’s image as a good place to live as well as to vacation, pledged his continuing support to obtain agreement from Comcast to employ all of the Broadband technicians.
Gisriel, at the Jan. 3 meeting, proposed an amendment to the franchise agreement requiring Comcast to continue to employ all of the AT&T Broadband workers. The council postponed voting on the agreement until it received advice from counsel on whether the amendment was legal. Introduction of the amendment bought time for the workers and led to Lynch’s agreement that Comcast will bargain with them.
On Jan. 16, the council approved the franchise agreement 5-1 without adopting Gisriel’s amendment.
CWA Local 2106, headquartered in Salisbury, Md., turned out more than 100 of its own members, workers from other unions in the Del-Mar-Va Peninsula Central Labor Council and community supporters for a city council meeting Jan. 16, when the council considered approving AT&T’s sale and transfer of its TCI Cablevision franchise to Comcast. It was the third city council meeting workers attended to fight for their job security and right to bargain as the transfer goes forward.
The local’s mobilization was supported by a CWA radio advertising campaign asking community residents to contact city council members and urge them to support workers in bargaining and to seek agreement from Comcast that workers’ jobs would be secure.
Missy Waller, local executive vice president, said that at the Jan. 16 meeting Comcast Vice President Brian Lynch said he misunderstood a question from the council when he responded in the negative at an earlier meeting.
“Comcast will recognize the bargaining unit at TCI Cablevision and will bargain in good faith,” Lynch told the workers and their supporters at the meeting.
“We accomplished our objective,” Waller said.
If there is a contract in place at the time of the transfer and at least half the bargaining unit remains, the new franchise owner is required by federal law to bargain with the union over what effects the acquisition will have on their wages and working conditions. Local President Barbara Mulvey said after the meeting, “We’ve made major movement in bargaining with AT&T in the last week. We’ll hopefully have a contract in place when Comcast takes over.”
Broadband technicans and Local 2106 members Paul Hudson and Jack Hall addressed the Jan. 16 council meeting. Claudia Seifert, whose clerical unit fell one vote short of CWA representation in an election last summer, joined them. Hall also spoke at the two previous meetings.
“While Comcast is a company with national presence, owners and franchise agreements come and go,” Hall pointed out. “Most of us are lifelong members of this community and take pride in providing service to our citizens.”
He noted that cable techs in Ocean City earn considerably less than the average nationwide and that a federal mediator, brought in after six months of bargaining with AT&T, recommended a significant increase over the life of their contract.
About 50 Local 2106 members and supporters — mobilized by the local, District 2 Organizing Coordinator Ron Collins and CWA Representative Richard Verlander — turned out for a city council meeting Jan. 3 in Ocean City. They came to make sure the council considered the workers’ value to the community as it decided whether to approve AT&T’s transfer of the franchise.
The local won the support of at least one council member when Hall testified at an earlier council meeting Dec. 18.
Verlander said City Councilman Vincent Gisriel Jr., mindful of the city’s image as a good place to live as well as to vacation, pledged his continuing support to obtain agreement from Comcast to employ all of the Broadband technicians.
Gisriel, at the Jan. 3 meeting, proposed an amendment to the franchise agreement requiring Comcast to continue to employ all of the AT&T Broadband workers. The council postponed voting on the agreement until it received advice from counsel on whether the amendment was legal. Introduction of the amendment bought time for the workers and led to Lynch’s agreement that Comcast will bargain with them.
On Jan. 16, the council approved the franchise agreement 5-1 without adopting Gisriel’s amendment.