Utica Time Warner Workers Win Inspirational Contract Struggle

CWA leaders are cheering a small Utica, N.Y., unit that took on media giant Time Warner and won – finally – securing a strong tentative 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 last week 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 proposal. The negotiating team is now supporting the offer, which also includes 2 percent raises annually for the next four years and a 401(k) plan with company contributions. Members will vote on the agreement tomorrow.

Negotiators for Local 1126 are recommending ratification of a hard-won contract offer for workers at Time Warner Cable in Utica. Pictured sitting are Local President Mike Garry, left, and Jeff Edwards, bargaining unit representative and steward. Standing is CWA Staff Representative Steve Miller, left, and Local 1126 Cable Unit Vice President Jim Curtacci.

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 one million members of our movement, we will remember Utica and know that change is possible."

Local 1126, which has 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.

"For Time Warner, it was all about breaking the union, and they didn't do that," Garry said. "We didn't get everything we wanted – they steadfastly refused to give us a pension – but it's a good contract overall."

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."

The union ran a media campaign with ads that showed the community how a company with billions in annual profits was treating its workers – all while raising customers' prices. The local rallied and campaigned not just in Utica but in other cities with Time Warner Cable franchise agreements and gathered vocal support from political leaders in the region.

Garry credited the tentative contract to "immense support from the district, the national, surrounding locals, but mostly to the unit itself. These 35 folks really hung tough."