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Comcast Workers United

News from IBEW Local 2322 www.ibew2322.com December 15, 2011

Aggressive management interference frustrates techs bid for union through NLRB process
Fall River, MA -- Comcast technicians at the Fall River and Fairhaven Massachusetts garages have been working together for over a year to win union recognition and the right to sit down with management to discuss improving their wages and working conditions. Knowing how successful management has been across the country at destroying majority support for collective bargaining, the techs in Southeastern Mass. pursued an alternative route also sanctioned by the National Labor Relations Act: voluntary recognition from management. (See Section 7 of the NLRA.) The workers signed up about 65 percent of their co-workers to form a union with IBEW Local 2322. Congressman Stephen Lynch and Fall River Mayor William Flanagan counted the cards to verify their majority. However after a year of fruitless attempts to meet with management, frustrated union supporters sought an NLRB supervised election. By winning a majority vote, federal labor law would compel management to finally begin the long sought after negotiations. But Comcast management knows too well how to play the union election game. As in most other bids by workers to form unions, it used its near complete access to employees and its power over their work lives to chip away at their confidence in the strength of sticking together as a group and the benefits of collective bargaining. Once the union petition was filed on November 4, management used the intervening six weeks to wear the techs down with misinformation about unions and pleas for a second chance to fix problems without a "third party." When the vote finally took place on Dec. 14, the Comcast workers lost their election 42 to 50. The final count was held at the Comcast office on Warren Street in Fall River. "We just wanted to win one for the little guy, said Christine Dexter, who has worked at Comcast for nine years. We want to achieve a little bit of security and the opportunity to share in Comcast's success. While losing the vote was discouraging, you can't let it get you down. We are going to keep educating our co-workers and fighting the good fight." "The techs from Fall River and Fairhaven were supported by other Comcast workers across the country," said IBEW organizer Steve Smith. "Script writers on Comcast-owned TV shows united in the Writers Guild of America West wrote a strong letter of solidarity, as did Comcast techs from both IBEW and CWA locals in Pennsylvania. Comcast members from IBEW Local

827 in New Jersey travelled to Massachusetts twice for meetings to encourage their co-workers to vote yes." Representatives Bill Keating and Barney Frank also wrote letters encouraging the Comcast techs to support collective bargaining in the December 14 vote. Union supporters have shared a number of concerns about management's conduct over the last six weeks and are considering filing unfair labor practice charges. For updates about the Comcast workers union, visit the Comcast Union Bulletin Board at: http://comcastunion.blogspot.com or call (978) 302-3690. "Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm." -- Winston Churchill

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