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Resource Page Overview
Below are several reports, resources and links available to assist and educate Comcast workers.
Federal and state laws guarantee the right to form unions! Eligible employees have the right to express their views on unions, to talk with their co-workers about their interest in forming a union, to wear union buttons, to attend union meetings and in many other ways to exercise their constitutional rights to freedom of speech and freedom of association.*
Despite these laws, many employers, including Comcast Corporation strongly resist their employees' efforts to gain a voice at work through unionization. So, before you start talking union where you work, we encourage you to take a few minutes to read through a few of the items below. We encourage you to get in touch with the IBEW Local 21 Organizing Department so we can help you better understand your legal rights, company tactics, what your supervisor can and cannot do while you and your co-workers are organizing, and what it takes to win as you organize at Comcast.
*Supervisors and a few other kinds of employees customarily are excluded from coverage. For more information, see specific laws covering your position or contact a union organizer as described below.
No Bargain: Comcast and the Future of Workers' Rights in Telecommunications
A study by American Rights at Work, a workers' rights advocacy group based in Washington, DC. The report's conclusions are based on an exhaustive review of National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) records and interviews with former and current Comcast employees from Chicago, Pittsburg, Dallas, Washington DC and other locations.
The U.S. Department of Labor reports that full-time telephone workers, a highly unionized workforce, earn $48,110 per year on average, while cable workers performing similar duties average earn an average of $34,756 per year. "This report documents appalling practices that are routine at Comcast," said American Rights at Work Chair David Bonior. "The cable giant is making enormous profits at the expense of its workers, and blocking unions that could prevent this exploitation from continuing." Download the report (PDF: 316 kb).
This is Comcast: Silencing Our Voice at Work
A report based on testimony by Comcast workers at the first Jobs with Justice National Workers’ Rights Board hearing, June 2, 2004. Download the report (PDF: 3.40 mg)
Union-busting at Comcast
Comcast, also known as the Wal-Mart of the Telecom Industry uses union-busting tactics in every company work location in the country. The term union-busting describes the planned course of action to stop workers from organizing a union or to destroy a union already in the workplace.
The Anti-Union Network of “for profit” consultants and lawyers advertise their ability to manipulate the labor law system and specialize in advising employers on how to thwart union organizing drives or how to decertify unions. Union-busters usually self-identify as ‘union avoidance firms,’ ‘management consultants,’ or ‘labor consultants.’ Comcast employs union-busters directly into their HR department all the way from their company headquarters to each of the markets across the USA. Over the last decade, Comcast has hired several from anti-worker law firms and private industry. Comcast intentionally uses these lawyers/dirt-bags as chief negotiators during contract talks.
More information can be found on the website of American Rights at Work, the free on-line encyclopedia Wikipedia, and in an online story in the Harvard Political Review - Busting the Busters.
With over 10,000 “union-avoidance” law firms, companies and consultants in United States, it’s easy to find their services with an easy Google search of “union-avoidance”. Following are links to just a few:
Union Issues Training Videos by AGTS
Industrial Relations Consultants, Inc
Comcast – Caught with their pants down!
Comcast got busted in Maryland after the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) determined that Comcast violated Federal labor law by engaging in multiple unfair labor practices with their employees during a union organizing effort.
Because the workers were united and had educated themselves about their legal right to organize, they were able to testify before the government agency, telling the TRUTH about how Comcast manipulated labor laws in an attempt to thwart the workers attempt to organize. Comcast was ordered to Post a NOTICE TO COMCAST EMPLOYEES about what they did wrong, promising to not violate the workers rights again.
Comcast was ordered to fully reinstate the employees they fired and make them whole for all seniority and any loss of wages and other benefits suffered as a result of the discrimination against them with interest.
We recommend that all Comcast employees read the entire 23 page decision* so you can compare the manager’s actions in Maryland to manager actions here in the Chicago Market. IBEW Local 21 will assist you in organizing your workplace and will file unfair labor practice charges against Comcast if your legal rights, protected by the National Labor Relations Act, are violated during any organizing efforts.
Federal Law gives you the right to:
• Form, join, or assist a union
• Choose representatives to bargain on your behalf
• Act together with other employees for your benefit and protection
Read the NLRB decision here:
* Comcast of Maryland, Inc. [PDF] (108 KB); [HTML] Case: 5-CA-31652/JD-25-05
The Employer War / The Union Difference
... of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly—and the freedom to join a union. In theory.
For most working men and women today, the freedom to form a union—a fundamental human and civil right—is elusive. When employers block workers’ efforts to form unions, it is no small infringement: Some 57 million nonunion workers say they want to be part of unions. [Full Report]
ComcastWatch. How is Comcast doing in your community?
ComcastWatch is a jointly sponsored project of the Communications Workers of America, AFL-CIO, CLC, and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. This site is aimed at consumers, regulators and legislators in the cable industry and provides consolidated information and keeps tabs on the practices and policies of Comcast with respect to pricing, rates, privacy issues, internet monitoring, use of customer information, workplace. The site also provides information about issues that local regulators at franchising authorities have taken up with Comcast. The site also provides updates and information on franchise agreement transfer and renewal negotiations. ComcastWatch.com
Workers Unite to Win at Comcast
For five long and difficult years, workers in Chicago and Pittsburgh struggled against Comcast, the nation’s largest cable company, in an epic battle to gain a first contract. And they won through determination, innovative tactics and strong community support. Redirect to the AFL-CIO Weblog at [ Full Story ]
Seven Years of Struggle and Solidarity
From the June 2006 IBEW Journal, read how seven years of grassroots strategy and tactics ended with a union victory by members of Downers Grove, Ill. Local 21 at Comcast on April 27. It was one of the longest and hardest fought victories in the history of the Brotherhood. [Full Story]
Compare Your Pay with Comcast CEO Brian L. Roberts
In 2005, Brian L. Roberts raked in $27,522,689 in total compensation including stock option grants* from Comcast Corporation. And Brian L. Roberts has another $30,315,390 in unexercised stock options from previous years. The AFL-CIO Executive Paywatch site offers easy links to see how other workers rank when comparing their pay with the CEO’s, compare your pay with CEO Brian L. Roberts pay, read the CEO Fact Sheet, and check what can be found in the CEO’s Shopping Cart. All this and more can be found at AFL-CIO Executive Paywatch.
Strategy and Vision to Build Worker Power
Click image for July 4, 2006 Acuff Speech
AFL-CIO Organizing Director Stewart Acuff recently outlined a vision for rebuilding America’s union movement. He offers a bold program for building worker power through organizing, improving public policy and making political leaders accountable to their worker constituents. We know the task of increasing union density is critical because it translates into bargaining power.
But increasing density is only a means. Our end is much more fundamental. It is to build worker power and to use that power to push down wealth and power from those who have too much to those who have too little, to use that power to shine light in dark places, to make life less mean and work more noble.
And to fulfill our responsibility to the struggle that is as old as our species—to advance human dignity in every sphere of life.
And to most effectively meet that responsibility, we need to be united. Unity and solidarity are not mottos or themes or consultant-generated spin. Unity and solidarity are the foundation of our strength and workers’ ability to win. Click here for Stewart Acuff’s full remarks at the recent American Sociological Association in Montreal.
Coming Soon … printable handbills, flyers, organizing materials and more!