Tiny Utica, N.Y., Unit Victorious Against Giant Time Warner

Members of CWA Local 1126 who work for Time Warner Cable in upstate New York voted 26-5 to accept a hard-won contract with the media giant.

CWA leaders are cheering a small Utica, N.Y., unit that took on media giant Time Warner and won — finally — securing a strong contract after years of struggle against an employer that was determined to crush their union.

The 35 Time Warner Cable workers, members of CWA Local 1126, beat back the company's union-busting decertification attempt last year and in late April voted 25-1 to reject management's so-called best and final offer.

Stunned, the company returned to the bargaining table and added a year of retroactive 2 percent raises to the contract, which workers approved May 2. The pact also includes 2 percent raises annually for the next four years and a 401(k) plan with company contributions.

CWA President Larry Cohen said that by standing up to the world's largest media company the small, courageous unit "has ignited a spark that will carry over to our campaign for the Employee Free Choice Act and inspire thousands of other cable workers at Time Warner and across the industry. As we mobilize 1 million union members of our movement, we will remember Utica and know that change is possible."

Local 1126, which had been without a contract at the company since 2004, was already in drawn-out talks with Adelphia Cable when Time Warner bought the company in 2006. Local President Mike Garry said the new owners figured they could easily roll over the 35 workers, the only unionized Time Warner workers in upstate New York.

He described the fight as, "David versus Goliath" and said of the union's victory, "I don't think we knocked out Goliath, but we gave him a pretty good black eye."