MoveOn: They locked us out and fired us

[Omaha Steve]

Sign here: http://signon.org/sign/reinstate-illegally-fired?source=mo&id=63213-3297678-ZQehfqx

By La'kesia Johnson (Contact)

To be delivered to: James Dolan, CEO, Cablevision/Optimum

Petition Statement
I urge Cablevision/Optimum to reinstate all 22 of the workers they illegally fired and locked out on January 30 and to bargain with the union in good faith.
Petition Background

I got fired just for speaking my mind about my working conditions. That's not just wrong, it's illegal.

I've worked as a Cablevision/Optimum Technician for more than 6 years. A year ago, my coworkers and I voted to form a union, so we could have a voice on the job. But a year has come and gone, and Cablevision/Optimum management hasn't negotiated in good faith for a contract.

Along with my co-workers, I asked to talk to my managers. They say they have an "open door" policy, but when we wanted to talk, they said they were too busy. Then they fired 22 of us, telling us we were "permanently replaced".

They locked us out and fired us for speaking out about working conditions. That's illegal and just plain wrong.

I'm without my paycheck just as my rent is going up. I have two children, Alexis and Rayshawn, one of whom has had serious medical care needs which has left us with a stack of bills. Meanwhile, Cablevision's CEO, James Dolan, made $11.5 million last year alone.

Stand with me by signing my petition to urge Cablevision/Optimum to reinstate me and all of my coworkers.

There are currently 23,503 signatures
NEW goal - We need 25,000 signatures

[rhett o rick]

1. The oligarchs are laughing at this. Why should they take the

workers back? With unemployment high, the oligarchs are in the driver's seat. Until we can get lots more jobs, this is going to happen all across the nation.

[lastlib]

2. ...and the oligarchs control how many jobs are opened.........

[rhett o rick]

11. Exactly. We must get more progressive people in Congress. Support PCCC. nm

[pasto76]

3. contact your state and federal labor departments

what they did is illegal yes, but there is little enforcement, the burden is unfortunately upon you to see that it is acted on.

[dorkzilla]

4. Good luck getting any sympathy from Jim Dolan

I worked very closely with him years ago. The guy is the biggest scumbag I've ever met in my life. His father was a really nice man, but his son is just a weasel, and a bully to boot.

[Chakab]

5. Heard about this on Malloy's show a few weeks ago.

Makes me ashamed to be a Cablevision customer.

[bluesbassman]

6. And the crushing continues...

We are in the midst of the most egregious transfer of wealth and power in history. Companies like Cablevision can account for record profits of the magnitude to pay their executive teams the kind of salary and compensation packages they do, all the while pressing employees for reduction in pay and benefits, reduce their workforces but not their workloads (read employees who remain do more work for less pay), and continuously complain how the government is somehow hampering their business.

We need a fundamental change in our economic system before it collapses under it's own weight.

[judesedit]

7. Signed, kicked to facebook and twitter. Good luck. Hope they do the right thing by hiring you back

[kelliekat44]

8. Perhaps Cablevision customers can do something to support the workers. Do they have alternatives?

In addition a segment on the Ed show might get enforcement from the Dept. of Labor or the EEOC. Whatever happens, it's important that this kind of behavior be made public to engage citizens to use their consumer power wisely. People all over have to begin to stand up for each other and support one another against the olio-corpo-bankos.

[xtraxritical]

15. To all Cablevision customers -

I dropped my cable service and now I watch everything I used to watch (especially msnbc) in real time on the internet. I can get all the premium movies channels too and I watched the super bowl too. Take a look at www.epctv.com

[cantbeserious]

9. Illegal Yes - Repercussions No - All Thanks To Ronald Reagan And The Radical Right

eom

[lonestarnot]

10. Has anyone filed a complaint? And if so when do you expect to be heard?

[bread_and_roses]

12. K & R for solidarity (n/t)

[mountain grammy]

13. I'm sure a few hundred applied for your jobs. They got us where they want us..

begging for $11/hour jobs. It's a crime that the best middle class jobs are with the government, and corporations make record profits but don't share with their workers. It's un-American, this greed and contempt for workers. Some smaller companies do much better, because they know if their workers succeed, they succeed.

[annabanana]

14. Done, k&r, tweeted & faced.

Blatantly illegal.

[Omaha Steve]

16. Latest news on this (Battle Intensifies Between Fired Workers, CWA and Cablevision)

I'm looking for a CWA member with up to date news.

OS


Battle Intensifies Between Fired Workers, CWA and Cablevision

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2013/02/battle_intensifies_cablevision_workers.php

By Jason Lewis Tue., Feb. 12 2013 at 12:20 PM

The group of Brooklyn technicians fired by Cablevision two weeks ago have been rallying around the city with high-profile politicians to give their account of how Cablevision has mistreated its unionized workers.

Cablevision maintains that Communications Workers of America, the union which 282 Brooklyn technicians joined earlier last year, is making last ditch efforts to hold onto to those workers. The company announced last week that some Brooklyn technicians still employed by Cablevision contacted the National Labor Relations Board to request a vote to decertify the union.



"Virtually all Cablevision employees have a direct relationship with the company. Cablevision looks forward to an election at the earliest possible date to allow its Brooklyn employees to determine whether or not the CWA union will continue to represent them," the company stated in a release.

The union says that the mass-firing was simply the latest ploy by Cablevision in a campaign of intimidation and coercion to break the union.

FULL story at link.

[Smilo]

17. Signed - good luck.

K&R

[hay rick]

18. Signed and rec.

[chriscalabrese]

19. Information from CWA

Happy Sunday Morning Everyone,

First off, on behalf of all the fired workers and the entire CWA family, I would like to thank you all for the outpouring of support. In the last few days over 30,000 people have sent a letter to James Dolan. Here are some facts that can give you a little more background on the struggle.
On January 26, 2012, 282 workers voted to join CWA Local 1109 by a vote of 180-86. In the year since the election,Cablevision has been trying to intimidate and harass the workers into voting their Union out. (the law states that after a year if 30% of the workers sign a petition, they can have another vote) The violations and tactics they used are too numerous to name hear, but what I can tell you is that in my 18 years of Union experience I have never seen anti-union behavior as aggressive as what I have witnessed this last year.
Through it all, the workers have stayed rock solid and unified. The company knew they had no chance of winning a desertification election or gaining enough support to go to the NLRB. So they went to Plan B. Four days after the one year anniversary of winning their union this is what they did:
1)They handed a letter to all the employees explaining that the time has come where they can decertify their union and gave them the number to the NLRB, for instructions on the process.
2) A half hour later they fired or "permanently replaced" 22 activist and shop stewards for requesting a five minute meeting with management.
3) While they were firing these 22 workers, they already had 22 replacement workers (scabs) hired. They told these scabs that they can only keep the jobs long term, if the Union does not object.
This is a 44 vote swing (they fired 22 union supporters and hired 22 anti-union supporters). They also had hired 20 new workers two weeks before and began poisoning their minds about the Union. This enabled them to receive the 30% they needed to bring a decertiication petition to the NLRB. Thankfully the NLRB has been investigating the events surrounding the firings, bad faith bargaining, and illegal surveillance of the workers. On Friday the NLRB determined that there was too much going on to allow a decertification election and has suspended it indefinitely. To follow this story more closely, visit www. thecablevision99.org.
In Solidrity,

Christopher Calabrese
Executive Vice President
CWA Local 1109

[Sekhmets Daughter]

20. Thanks for updating us! n/t