The union representing about 1,800 Charter Communications technicians in New York are stepping up their efforts to force the cable operator back to the negotiating table, reportedly spending $3 million in an all-out campaign to get customers in the area to switch providers.

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 3 has been on strike at Charter since March 2017. The union local, which has been without a contract since 2013, is embarking on a campaign including direct mail, TV, print and digital ads, as well as hiring individuals to knock on Charter customer doors to try to convince them to switch. As part of the ad campaign, the spots reportedly show how much customers can save if they drop Charter service and subscribe to streaming video services.

News of the campaign was first reported by the New York Post. 

IBEW members walked out nearly two years ago complaining of poor working conditions and plans by Charter to take over its pension plan. The union has attracted support from several prominent local and state politicians, including New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who participated in a union rally against Charter in December.

Charter has denied the union’s claims, adding that it provides superior service backed by an 11,000-person highly trained New York state workforce.

“This campaign is basically telling people to choose inferior broadband, poor customer service and no NY1 or Spectrum Networks, effectively punishing themselves and their families for the union’s insistence on control over employee retirement funds,” Charter said in a statement.

IBEW Local 3 business manager Christopher Erikson did not return a phone call for comment. But he told the Post Dec. 10 that the union believed it necessary to “hit them where it hurts” because of what he characterized as nearly two-years of “union-busting” tactics.

Charter, in a statement, said it has been negotiating in good faith with the union over the past 20 months and “we are incredibly disappointed that despite our best efforts and numerous offers, the union continues to block an agreement. Charter has offered significant concessions to end the strike — including addressing the union's two biggest concerns, bringing strikers back and making payments into the union's benefits plan. Nevertheless, we remain committed to investing in our first-class workforce and delivering superior products and service to our customers.”

While a six-month strike by The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers against Charter Communications rages on, CBS said it has reached an early contract renewal agreement with the union, covering about 3,500 technicians across the country.

In a statement, CBS said the extended contract has been ratified by the affected workforce and will be effective Feb. 1, 2018 through April 21, 2021. The current IBEW agreement was set to expire on Jan. 31.

Major provisions of the new, multi-year contract include pay increases, increased benefit contributions and a path forward for new media.

“The skilled professionals of the IBEW are proud of our partnership with CBS, and this agreement reflects our joint commitment to good jobs and broadcasting excellence,” IBEW president Lonnie Stephenson said in a statement.

The IBEW represents CBS workers in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., St. Louis, San Francisco, Dallas, Miami and Atlanta, in addition to supplying a skilled workforce for all events televised on CBS Sports and CBS News.

“We are very pleased to have reached this new agreement ahead of schedule,” said CBS chair and CEO Les Moonves in a statement. “Our new deal is indicative of the terrific working relationship and cooperation between CBS and the IBEW as well as our ongoing commitment to its highly skilled technicians.”

Related: Moonves Snags 22% Raise

About 1,700 Charter Communications workers in New York and New Jersey, members of IBEW Local 3, walked off the job on March 28, claiming they have lost benefits and endured shoddy working conditions ever since the cable company purchased Time Warner Cable in 2016. Charter has denied the accusations, adding that it has offered employees a 22% increase in wages – and up to 55% for some workers – as well as participation in a 401(k) plan with a dollar-for-dollar match up to 6% of eligible pay. On Sept. 18, IBEW workers participated in a rally in Brooklyn and Manhattan that included speeches by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.

As a strike by more than 1,700 union-member employees of Charter Communications' Spectrum cable and broadband operations in the New York City area passes the six-month mark, a union-backed demonstration Monday in Brooklyn and Manhattan drew thousands of the sidelined workers and their supporters, news outlets reported. The hashtag #SpectrumStrike was a top trend in New York City Monday afternoon.

The strike, largely over economic issues such as pension and health-care benefits, is with Local 3 of the IBEW, which called for the demonstration. News reports and photos on social media showed attendance by members of several other unions, though, and speakers included New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio along with other elected officials. "You attack one, you attack all of us," the IBEW quoted the Democratic governor as declaring at a rally at City Hall Park in lower Manhattan.

READ MORE: More Outages as Charter, Union Continue Stalemate

During the strike, there have been outages said to be from more 100 cuts to fiber optics, which Charter pointed out was reported again Monday by the local CBS News station in a piece that also criticized Cuomo and de Blasio for backing the strikers. (Spectrum News NY1, the local Charter-owned news outlet, did not appear to have any links to coverage of the demonstration on its home page or its Twitter feed Monday evening.) 

The ralliers first assembled on the Brooklyn side of the East River and marched across the Brooklyn Bridge. Some on Twitter said as many as 10,000 people attended the demonstration and march. 

The photo above was tweeted by Staten Island borough president James Oddo, a Republican, who also tweeted, "Hey 84 SI families impacted by #spectrumstrike you have lots of support here in Brooklyn. #nowitsafight nowitsafight."

READ MORE:New York Mayor Offers Help in Charter Strike Talks

A Spectrum spokesman released the following statement: "By keeping bargaining unit employees out of work, Local 3 is denying them an average wage increase of 22 percent — some employees up to 55 percent — and also denying them excellent health and retirement benefits, including a 401(k) savings plan with a dollar-for-dollar match up to 6 percent of eligible pay. This will have a positive, lasting impact on employees’ standard of living and allows us to grow a well-paid, highly skilled workforce for the benefit of our customers."

As MCN has reported previously, IBEW Local 3 has been without a contract since 2013. According to reports the union has said since Charter took over Time Warner Cable the company has tried to stop contributing to member pension and health plans; Charter has denied the pension claims. The union also claims that Charter wants to eliminate overtime pay on weekends and reduce the number of paid holidays, and give it greater flexibility to subcontract work normally done by bargaining unit employees.

Altice USA workers in Newark, N.J., won’t be asking customers to look for the Union label anytime soon after they voted down representation from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers for the second time last week.

According to people familiar with the matter, the vote was close — 60 against the union and 53 for representation. At press time, it couldn’t be determined if there were any abstentions in the vote. The IBEW had tried to organize the Newark operation once before but pulled its petition.

“This is a time of tremendous opportunity for our company, and Altice USA strongly believes that a direct relationship with our employees promotes an environment of trust, respect and collaboration, which ultimately drives a superior experience for our customers,” Altice USA said in a statement.

The news of the union defeat comes days after Altice USA issued preliminary documents for an initial public offering of stock.

While Newark was a setback for the union, organizers are beginning to have some success in cracking into the cable market, something that has been difficult to do in the past.

The IBEW successfully organized Altice USA’s Oakland, N.J., location in March by a vote of 49 for the union and 46 against. Altice USA’s Brooklyn, N.Y., location, with about 300 workers, voted in favor of representation by the Communications Workers of America in January 2012. But unions have failed in organizing efforts in The Bronx, N.Y., and Piscataway, N.J.

The IBEW represents about 1,700 Charter Communications workers in New York and New Jersey that went on strike March 28 to prevent changes to their healthcare and pension benefits. Charter denied making pension cuts but has said it has offered employees greater pay increases than the union had demanded, along with “competitive and robust healthcare and retirement benefits.”

Unions have stepped up organizing efforts at Altice USA ever since the company revealed plans to create Altice Technical Services, a separate company that would house all field service, construction & fiber, design, outside plant maintenance, inside plant and field-based employees serving commercial accounts.

While Altice USA has maintained that ATS offers greater opportunities for advancement and training, some unions have worried that it would allow the company to lay off workers at will. Altice USA had pledged in New York not to lay off any customer-facing employees for three years, part of the conditions it agreed to in winning New York Public Service Commission approval of its June 2016 purchase of Cablevision Systems.

In late March, Newsday said Altice USA announced plans to shut down a Long Island warehouse affecting about 98 workers there as it shifted those functions to USTC, which it hired to handle warehousing from a facility in Edison, N.J.

Charter Communications may have promised President Trump it would add 20,000 new jobs over the next few years, but at least 1,700 of the cable operator's employees in New York and New Jersey walked off the job Tuesday, claiming they have lost benefits and endured shoddy working conditions ever since the company bought out Time Warner Cable in May.

The workers, former Time Warner Cable workers ranging from warehouse employees to field technicians, are members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 3 and say they have been without a contract since 2013.

According to The Daily News, the union claims Charter wants to stop contributing to workers’ pension and medical plans. The company, according to the article, denied the pension claims but said it has proposed increasing employee compensation and offering “competitive and robust” health and retirement benefits.

“Spectrum's primary objective is to provide great service to our customers, and we believe fairly compensated field technicians are critical to that objective," Charter VP of field communications Rich Ruggiero said in a statement. "This is why Spectrum is offering our field technicians an even larger pay increase than the union has demanded, along with competitive and robust healthcare and retirement benefits.

"Spectrum made this offer on Feb. 12 and didn't receive a counterproposal from Local 3 until two days ago (March 26)," he continued.  "We believe this greater compensation to be more beneficial to our employees than continuing to fund the failing union-managed benefits program. We have a solid contingency plan in place and don’t expect customers to be impacted by Local 3’s actions.”

The strike comes days after Charter chairman and CEO Tom Rutledge met with President Trump to announce its plans to invest $25 billion in network upgrades over four years. The company also reiterated a pledge to add up to 20,000 new workers over that same period. 

Despite accelerated efforts by union representatives and growing uncertainty regarding plans to move technicians to a separate company, Altice USA employees voted overwhelmingly against representation last week.

Employees at Altice USA’s Piscataway, N.J., facility voted 53-43 against representation from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. At the Bronx, N.Y., location, Altice workers voted down efforts to organize by the Communications Workers of America by 113 to 92. It was the second time since 2012 that the CWA tried to organize the Bronx location.

Union reps had been encouraged that they had a chance to successfully organize the Altice USA operations after the cable company announced plans to create Altice Technical Services USA, a separate company that would house all of its field service, construction & fiber, design, outside plant maintenance, inside plant and field-based employees serving commercial accounts. Some workers feared ATS would allow Altice USA to fire workers at will, while the company said it was an attempt to offer better training and opportunity for employees.

Related: Altice USA, Meredith Ready for Retrans Tussle

For Altice USA, this was the fourth time that it has successfully pushed backed unionization efforts at its Optimum division facilities since it closed on its deal to acquire Cablevision Systems in June. Aside from the Piscataway and Bronx wins, petitions by the IBEW to organize workers in Newark, N.J. were withdrawn, as was a petition by the CWA to represent workers in Brooklyn it doesn’t already represent. CWA has about 300 union members in the Brooklyn location.

Altice USA executives have been making the rounds to employee locations to talk about the ATS transition, including CEO Dexter Goei, head of Optimum operations Pragash Pillai, chief financial officer Charles Stewart, chief operating officer Hakim Boubazine and human resources and other executives. Altice USA said that no employees have made the transition to ATS yet. Earlier, Altice USA said it expects to have its entire field service force transitioned to the new company in about five years.

The 750,000-strong brothers (and sisters) of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) is backing the proposed AT&T/Time Warner Cable merger, calling it pro-consumer and pro-worker.

That is according to a letter to Senate Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman Michael Lee and ranking member Amy Klobuchar obatined by Multichannel News and being sent on the eve of the senators' oversight hearing on the deal.

"AT&T has a history of business practices that emphasize integrity and respect for its employees and consumers like," wrote IBEW President Lonnie Stephenson, saying it was on behalf of his members.

He said that at a time when wages for many workers are stagnant, AT&T's "commitment to respecting its employees' right to come together on the job to promote fair wages and family-friendly benefit is the right direction for our economy and nation.

Related: IBEW Ratifies contracts for Former DirecTV Employees.

Stephenson said there were many examples of AT&T's commitment, no more so than its DirecTV purchase and the choice in video and high-speed Internet service it created.

"The AT&T-Time Warner transaction would represent another step forward for the telecommunications and broadcast industries," he told the powerful senators.

Critics have raised competition issues, but Stephenson didn't see it that way. "By bringing together companies in two separate markets," he said, "it will do so without creating the traditional risks to competition."

Verizon and striking workers agreed to return to the table on Tuesday (May 17) after the Obama Administration stepped in.

Somewhere between 36,000 and 40,000, East Coast Verizon wireline workers--including FiOS employee--represented by the Communications workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, are striking the company after they failed to reach agreement on a new contract.

On April 29, Verizon said it has submitted its last, best offer.

According to the Department of Labor, Labor Secretary reached out to both sides last week and invited them to meet with him in Washington in an effort to help them resolve the dispute.

Perez met with Verizon Chairman Lowell McAdam, CWA President Chris Shelton and IBEW president Lonnie Stephenson. The department described it as a constructive dialogue and signaled the two sides would be talking Tuesday.

"“The best way to resolve this labor dispute is at the bargaining table, and I am heartened by the parties’ mutual commitment to get back to immediate discussions and work toward a new contract,” said Secretary Perez in a statement late Sunday. “I was singularly impressed by the parties’ appreciation that time is of the essence, and their strong commitment to use the collective bargaining process to reach a mutually beneficial resolution.”

Citing complaints including that Verizon was not expanding FiOS and instead shedding workers who installed the video service, about 39,000 workers struck Verizon April 13.

“Our Chairman and CEO Lowell McAdam met today with Secretary Perez and others, as noted," said a Verizon spokesperson. "We will attend the next meeting in Washington on Tuesday.”

A union spokesperson had no comment.

WASHINGTON — Speaking to New York City’s transit workers union on Wednesday (April 13), Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) said he was next headed to the picket line of CWA members striking against Verizon Communications.

He told Transit Workers Union Local 100 that he was joining in "that stand against the greed of Verizon," citing it as the kind of corporate greed his campaign was aimed at reining in.

Sanders has slammed Verizon, accusing it of not paying taxes, though the company has said it pays billions and that any suggestion it does not pay its fair share is untrue.

There were at least three Communications Workers of America-International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers picket lines set up in New York. The strike began at 6 a.m. and followed ten months in which the unions and Verizon could not come to terms on new contracts for about 39,000 wireline workers on the East Coast.

WASHINGTON — Two unions representing Verizon Communications workers along the East Coast have set a Wednesday (April 13) deadline to strike against the company.

Among the 39,000 Communications Workers of America and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers-represented employees from Massachusetts to Virginia affected would be workers on the telco’s Fios TV video service, as well as telephone and broadband services.

“Even though Verizon made $39 billion in profits over the last three years — and $1.8 billion a month in profits over the first three months of 2016 — the company wants to gut job security protections, contract out more work, offshore jobs to Mexico, the Philippines and other locations and require technicians to work away from home for as long as two months without seeing their families,” the unions said in announcing the deadline. “Verizon is also refusing to negotiate any improvements in wages, benefits or working conditions for Verizon Wireless retail workers, who formed a union in 2014.”

The unions’ contracts expired in August 2015, and they said it is now time to take a stand after offering “hundreds of millions of dollars in cost savings” and still not getting the basic job security they are seeking.

The unions said Verizon is:

• “Offshoring and contracting out even more customer service work to Mexico, the Philippines and other locations.”

• “Cutting job security for all workers.”

•  "Requiring technicians to work away from home for as long as two months, without seeing their families. For anyone trying to balance work and family life, this is impossible.”

• “Refusing to negotiate improvements to wages, benefits and working conditions for Verizon Wireless workers, who formed a union with CWA in 2014.”

• “Freezing pensions at 30 years of service and forcing retirees to pay extremely high health-care costs.”

• “Slashing benefits for workers injured on the job.”

"For years, Verizon has been cutting vital staff — it has nearly 40% fewer workers now than a decade ago,” the unions added.

“Verizon has failed to hire the personnel necessary to properly roll out Fios, the high-speed broadband service that is still unavailable to many of its customers,” the unions said. “In cities like Philadelphia and New York, Verizon has failed to meet the buildout obligations under their citywide cable-franchise agreements.”

Verizon was talking tough in its response, too. The telco countered that it remains committed to a deal, but said the unions would “rather make strike threats than constructively engage at the bargaining table.”

Verizon said it could continue to serve its customers whether of not the unions struck and that it has been preparing for that possibility for more than a year, training nonunion workers to do “virtually every job function handled by our represented workforce.”

Verizon said it has offered:

• “A 6.5% wage increase over the term of the contract.”

• “Access to quality and affordable healthcare benefits.”

• “Competitive retirement benefits, including a 401 (k) with a company match.”

But Verizon also said it is looking to modernize “legacy contracts” that date back decades as it seeks “greater flexibility to manage and utilize its workforce to gain operating efficiencies and better customer experiences.”

As with other telcos, Verizon is transitioning from legacy copper networks to fiber and Internet-protocol delivery.

“Legacy constraints that may have made sense in the Ma Bell era of phone booths and Princess phones don’t make sense in today’s digital world with high-speed connectivity and dynamic customer demands,” Marc Reed, Verizon’s chief administrative officer, said in response to the strike threat. “Union leaders need to realize that there are real issues that will need to be addressed with or without a strike.

“Our goal is to continue providing good jobs with competitive wages and benefits and make the wireline business more successful now and in the future. Union leadership needs to be realistic and work with us to help make that happen,” Reed said.

But if not, said Bob Mudge, president of Verizon’s wireline network operations, "If a strike takes place, whether it’s one day, two weeks or longer, we are ready.”