New Comcast Workers' Union Certified
Middleboro, MA - Congressman Stephen Lynch, Fall River Mayor William Flanagan and community leaders representing the Massachusetts Workers' Rights Board reviewed a list of employees at Comcast's Fall River and Fairhaven locations on Friday - and then checked it against union authorization cards voluntarily signed by employees at the same locations requesting IBEW Local 2322 to represent them.
Based on their card count, an overwhelming majority of Comcast employees in the above named locations desire to unite in IBEW Local 2322.
Rep. Lynch and Mayor Flanagan sent a letter immediately afterwards, "urging Comcast management to respect the employee majority and voluntarily recognize IBEW Local 2322 as their representative and begin collective bargaining for an agreement covering their wages, benefits and working conditions."
"We requested the certification because we wanted to prove beyond a doubt to management that a genuine majority of our co-workers want to form a union and begin collective bargaining," said Brian Almeida, a Comcast technician from the Fall River office who stared with the company in 2001.
Almeida was accompanied at the certification event by about 25 other Comcast employees and many union and community supporters. It took place at the IBEW local 2322 union hall in Middleboro, MA on September 24.
In Massachusetts and across the country, workers are increasingly pursuing this voluntary approach -- rather than going to the National Labor Relations Board for a representation election -- because too many employers have aggressively used their unilateral power over work schedules, promotions and pay to destroy the workers' majority without fear of any meaningful penalties.
Comcast is not obligated to recognize the workers union, but it can choose to do so voluntarily. "These workers only want to sit down with management and talk about their wages and working conditions," said Rep. Lynch. "I sincerely hope that management will respect the wishes of the majority and begin those discussions as soon as possible."
"I wholeheartedly endorse this voluntary approach to assist workers to gain a voice at work and their collective bargaining rights," said Mayor Flanagan.
The Workers' Rights Board is a project of Massachusetts Jobs with Justice.
Click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNCLD_12ebQ to see a YouTube video of the card count and majority certification.
For more pictures of the event clickhttp://picasaweb.google.com/randwilson.aflcio/ComcastWorkersUnionCertifi...
Rand Wilson is communications coordinator for the AFL-CIO Organizing Department's Center for Strategic Research. This article was simultaneously published with a similar article in In These Times.
