Utica Time Warner Techs Stand Strong for Their Union

Dealing a big blow to their anti-union employer, Time Warner Cable, CWA-represented cable technicians in Utica, N.Y., this week overwhelmingly rejected a decertification attempt.

The 33 members of CWA Local 1126 voted 24-9 to stick with the union, which has represented them through a parade of owners for 35 years.

High morale and unbreakable solidarity got the unit through the past 45 days of the decertification campaign, Local 1126 President Mike Garry said. “They won by standing up for themselves, showing strength and unity, wearing stickers, asking questions at captive audience meetings – really putting the company in a lose-lose situation.”

And they involved the community with lawn signs, print ads and radio spots encouraging them to call Time Warner in support of the workers – a campaign that will continue as contract negotiations get underway Sept. 25. Their support was so strong that their local New York assemblywoman came to their victory party Wednesday night, Garry said.

The struggle began about two years ago when Time Warner Cable bought Adelphia, which had a contract, now expired, with the Utica workers. Time Warner quickly showed its lack of respect for the union by stripping members of the pension and 401(k) plan it offered its non-union workers.

Although they couldn’t legally come right out and say they’d give the benefits back to workers if they decertified, CWA District 1 Organizing Coordinator Tim Dubnau said Time Warner “hinted very strongly” that it would happen. “They ran a vicious campaign,” he said.

But he and Garry said the company grossly underestimated its workers. “They thought they could buy them off,” Garry said. “They thought the whole thing was going to hinge on the fact that they were withholding the 401(k) and pensions.”

CWA countered with a highly effective campaign that included testimonials from former CWA members in Texas who deeply regret decertifying their own union at Time Warner cable.

“They spoke anonymously because they still work for the company,” Dubnau said. “But they told us it was a huge mistake. They talked about how much forced overtime they have to work now and how they never see their families. And they told us that the person who spearheaded the decertification got two promotions and a trip to Hawaii.”

Another big coup was contact with a former Time Warner manager who’s now a member of CWA at Verizon in Syracuse. “He called into one of our meetings and told them what to expect and said, ‘They can’t wait to crush you guys,’” Garry said. “I think that was the final straw.”

In addition, Dubnau said a strong inside committee did an excellent job of helping workers understand the difference between being an at-will employee and one with union rights. He said the company had to know it was in trouble when 22 of the workers wore union stickers to a captive-audience meeting.