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Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report
National Edition
Produced by Ken Nash and Mimi Rosenberg
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On Strike, Six Months & Counting: Spectrum Cable workers headed
from the picket line crossing the Brooklyn Bridges to a massive Rally
in Foley Square drawing thousands of supporters from the labor
and community movements for social change. They built support
amongst the public for their fight for a fair contract and to save their
union, amidst a media whiteout of their historic labor struggle!
with
IBEW Local 3 strikers and supporters
Some 1,800 members of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 3 have been on
strike at Spectrum/Time Warner Cable in New York and New Jersey since
March 28, more than six months ago. Since then, only a fraction of the
workforce has crossed picket lines, but the company is trying hard to keep
up normal operations by using scabs and subcontractors to break the
strike and the workers' union..
Spectrum is part of Charter Communications, the second largest cable
provider in the U.S. and a telecommunications giant, providing services to
roughly 25 million customers in 41 states, two and a half million of which
reside in New York. The CEO, Tom Rutledge, who made $98.5 million
last year met with Donald Trump in the White House earlier this year, and
the company is touted by Trump as a job creator investing in its U.S.
workforce. Meanwhile Rutledge’s Charter Communications has hung its
workers out to dry:
. Charter wants to eliminate Pension and Hospitalization plan contributions.
. Charter wants to eliminate the Educational and Cultural Trust Fund
contributions. Funds will no longer will be available for employees and
spouses to attend college.
. Charter wants to eliminate Annuity/HRA contributions, Dental, and the
Company 401k.
. Charter wants to eliminate Social Security (FICA) which is an additional
7.65% of your salary.
. Charter wants to eliminate overtime pay for Saturday and Sunday.
. Charter wants to reduced holidays from 9 to 7 days (eliminate your birthday
day and religious holiday).
. Charter wants to eliminate bargaining unit shifts and create shifts at their
discretion at any time.
. Charter wants to have union members paid bi-weekly instead of weekly.
. Charter wants to eliminate all personal days including accrued personal
days and eliminate unused payout of sick time.
. Charter wants to eliminate the Subcontracting Clause which will allow them
to lay off employees of the company even if outside contractors are being
used.
. Charter wants the right to subcontract out service and all bargaining unit
work.
. Charter wants to assign any employee regardless of seniority to any
work location, in the five boroughs and New Jersey, at their discretion.
. Charter wants to eliminate the representation of Shop Stewards.
Walter Smith, a cable technician at Spectrum for six years who lives in the
Bronx, received an eviction notice in July after falling behind on his bills, he
said. The father of two has not worked since early October, when he had
surgery to remove a benign tumor on his head. When he was ready to
return to work in April, workers had just gone on strike. “The strike has
lasted longer than anybody could have imagined,” Mr. Smith, 48, said.
“Emotionally, dealing with the tumor and then this financially, it has been
tough, but I have a strong family that keeps me grounded, and I’ll keep
walking the picket line until Spectrum CEO Rutledge honors our union
and we get a fair contract.
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Building Bridges is regularly broadcast live over WBAI,
99.5 FM in the N.Y.C Metropolitan area on Mondays from
7-8pm EST and is streamed, and archived cast at
www.wbai.org
We are syndicated weekly to over 50 broadcast and internet stations
in the US, Canada and UK