Unions Press DirecTV for Fair Contract Negotiations

About 50 members of CWA Locals 1101 and 1108, Jobs with Justice and the United Electrical Workers rallied outside the annual meeting of DirecTV in New York City to protest the company's refusal to bargain a fair contract with technicians and other workers at the company as well as its latest move to shift workers' jobs in several states to contractors.

A year ago, workers at DirecTech Southwest in Missouri, Illinois and Kentucky voted for CWA representation. Since then, the company has stonewalled contract negotiations and continues to refuse to bargain a fair agreement. Workers in Ohio, represented by the UE, are facing the same contract fight.

"This situation is exactly why the Employee Free Choice Act must be passed," said CWA President Larry Cohen. "If that law was in effect today, companies like DirecTV couldn't block the bargaining process. A fair arbitration system would settle disputed contracts that couldn't be resolved and true workers' rights would be restored. Instead, our current broken system allows employers to string out negotiations, sometimes for years, denying workers their rights."

DirecTV workers are seeking a fair wage increase and a fair contract. Some of the customer service representatives, or "trackers," who are mostly women, currently are paid just $6.50 an hour. Health care premiums are so high that fewer than half of the workers can afford to buy coverage for themselves and their families and some of the trackers and their families earn so little that they're eligible for public assistance, food stamps and children's health insurance, said Tom Newport, CWA District 6 organizing coordinator. 

CWA members at DirecTV are urging workers and the public to support their fight for fairness, asking supporters to contact Tom Beaudreau, the chief executive officer of DirecTech Southwest, to urge him to "get serious about a contract that provides fair wages and benefits."