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Unions Push for Contracts, Corporate Reforms at Comcast
After two years without a first contract for a thousand Comcast workers in Pennsylvania, District 13 and CWA locals are stepping up pressure on the company.
On May 7, members mobilized at the company's shareholder meeting in Philadelphia. A week earlier, Richard Trumka, secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO, and other union secretary-treasurers wrote to Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, urging him to bargain a fair contract with workers.
At the shareholder meeting, CWA presented more than 5,000 postcards urging Roberts to "bargain fairly and without delay."
Workers from Comcast bargaining units represented by Locals 13000 and 13550 and union members from the Allegheny County Labor Council collected postcards from families and Comcast subscribers, and union members in eastern Pennsylvania collected additional cards, Local 13000 Executive Vice President Ed Mooney said.
CWA has been in talks with Comcast since 2001 on behalf of more than 1,000 Comcast workers in nine units in the Pittsburgh region. All but one of the units are still seeking a first contract.
'Betrayal' Cited
About 30 CWA members stood with Mooney as he addressed the shareholders meeting. Citing the company's past promises to bargain, and CWA's decision not to oppose the merger of AT&T and Comcast, he said members now feel "betrayed."
"Instead of working toward a contract for its employees, Comcast has used intimidation, threats and inducements to convince workers to give up their lawful workplace rights," Mooney said.
He pledged a continuing, systematic outreach by Comcast workers to friends and neighbors.
"If a company is successful enough to put its chief stockholder on the Forbes 400 list, then it is successful enough to pay a living wage, bargain reasonable benefits and working conditions and to sign a contract," he said. "Two years is long enough."
Broad Union Support
In their letter to Comcast, the secretary-treasurers pledged to reevaluate union pension fund investments in the company and to encourage a million union families in Pennsylvania to show their support for bargaining and scrutinize the company's operations.
"We are very disappointed in the 'low road' approach to workers' rights that Comcast continues to pursue," the officers wrote. They also took Comcast to task for union-busting efforts in other states.
"This is an extremely short-sighted strategy," they said. "Your actions affect not only workers and their families, but hit communities that must pick up additional health care and support costs and customers who must endure the shoddy work - and worse - of subcontractors brought in to replace union workers."
On May 7, members mobilized at the company's shareholder meeting in Philadelphia. A week earlier, Richard Trumka, secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO, and other union secretary-treasurers wrote to Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, urging him to bargain a fair contract with workers.
At the shareholder meeting, CWA presented more than 5,000 postcards urging Roberts to "bargain fairly and without delay."
Workers from Comcast bargaining units represented by Locals 13000 and 13550 and union members from the Allegheny County Labor Council collected postcards from families and Comcast subscribers, and union members in eastern Pennsylvania collected additional cards, Local 13000 Executive Vice President Ed Mooney said.
CWA has been in talks with Comcast since 2001 on behalf of more than 1,000 Comcast workers in nine units in the Pittsburgh region. All but one of the units are still seeking a first contract.
'Betrayal' Cited
About 30 CWA members stood with Mooney as he addressed the shareholders meeting. Citing the company's past promises to bargain, and CWA's decision not to oppose the merger of AT&T and Comcast, he said members now feel "betrayed."
"Instead of working toward a contract for its employees, Comcast has used intimidation, threats and inducements to convince workers to give up their lawful workplace rights," Mooney said.
He pledged a continuing, systematic outreach by Comcast workers to friends and neighbors.
"If a company is successful enough to put its chief stockholder on the Forbes 400 list, then it is successful enough to pay a living wage, bargain reasonable benefits and working conditions and to sign a contract," he said. "Two years is long enough."
Broad Union Support
In their letter to Comcast, the secretary-treasurers pledged to reevaluate union pension fund investments in the company and to encourage a million union families in Pennsylvania to show their support for bargaining and scrutinize the company's operations.
"We are very disappointed in the 'low road' approach to workers' rights that Comcast continues to pursue," the officers wrote. They also took Comcast to task for union-busting efforts in other states.
"This is an extremely short-sighted strategy," they said. "Your actions affect not only workers and their families, but hit communities that must pick up additional health care and support costs and customers who must endure the shoddy work - and worse - of subcontractors brought in to replace union workers."