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.

A day after their union reached a tentative collective bargaining agreement with Cablevision Systems, 262 cable company technicians ratified the pact by a strong margin.

The workers ratified the pact at a special meeting Feb. 14 at the Brooklyn headquarters of the Communications Workers of America, Local 1109. The contract was the first the workers had signed since agreeing to be represented by the union in 2012 and make them the first Cablevision employees to have union representation.

“We are glad to have these contentious negotiations behind us, and now we look forward to our employees continued efforts to provide the best connectivity and service to Cablevision's Brooklyn customers,” Cablvision said in a statement, adding that the company has maintained the flexibility to apply its new performance-based standards to its Brooklyn employees, ensuring the same level of service for all Cablevision customers across the company’s entire service territory. .

Cablevision and Local 1109 said they had reached a tentative agreement on Friday,  ending what had been a three-year battle. According to the CWA, the new contract goes into effect on March 1 and includes substantial wage increases for the Brooklyn workers (bringing them to 96% wage parity with Cablevision workers throughout the rest of the company); allows for a three-step grievance and arbitration procedure, providing for independent arbitration disputes under contract; stipulates that employees can only be disciplined or discharged for “just cause;” gives workers in Brooklyn the same health and 401(k) pension benefits as other Cablevision employees; and gives workers the right to post materials on a union bulletin board inside Cablevision garages in Brooklyn.

“We are looking forward to opening a new page in our relationship with management,” said CWA national vice president for CWA District One Chris Shelton, in a statement. “Our members stuck together for 3 years and in the end, persuaded Cablevision that a fair deal acceptable to management and labor was possible.  This is an historic achievement at Cablevision.” 

Said CWA Local 1109 president Tony Spina in a statement: “CWA members are proud of what we achieved working together, and that’s reflected in today’s vote.  While no contract is perfect, our members will receive solid raises, a strong benefits package, and a voice on the job,” said Spina. “This agreement begins a new chapter in the Cablevision – CWA relationship.”

After a three-year battle with the union, Cablevision Systems said it has reached a collective bargaining agreement with the Communications Workers of America, representing about 260 technicians in Brooklyn, N.Y. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

In a brief statement, Cablevision said the agreement is subject to ratification by its Brooklyn workers.

 “The collective bargaining agreement for our Brooklyn employees is balanced and fair and was hard-fought by both sides over many months,” Cablevision said in a statement. “With this agreement, our focus in Brooklyn will continue to be providing the best connectivity and service to Cablevision customers.”

Workers in Brooklyn voted for union representation in 2012, which touched off what has been a testy relationship between the CWA and the company. Even in announcing the bargaining agreement, Cablevision noted that nearly 15,000 of its other employees “enjoy a direct relationship with the company.”

The CWA said in a statement that details of the tentative agreement were being withheld pending a presentation to its members, which will occur at a ratification meeting for the contract scheduled for Saturday evening (Feb. 14).

“After a 37-month battle to win a contract, CWA looks forward to opening a new chapter in its relationship with Cablevision,” the union said in a statement.

Cablevision and the union have been at odds ever since Brooklyn workers voted for union representation in 2012. In 2013, the dispute heated up after Cablevision dismissed 22 workers for what the company said was their refusal to work and what the union claimed was tied directly to their union activities. Cablevision reinstated those workers shortly after they were first terminated.

In December, a federal administrative law judge ruled that Cablevision had violated some labor laws in its dealings with the union, but found the cable operator not guilty of a key charge that at the time the company hoped could help it in the fight to oust the union.

Apparently, both sides determined it was better to return to the negotiating table rather than keep the fight going.

Cablevision Systems has filed a lawsuit in New York State Supreme Court, Nassau County against a former employee, Local 1109 of the Communications Workers of America, and senior union official Christopher Shelton, claiming the union representing technicians and dispatchers at its Brooklyn, New York location knowingly and repeatedly made false statements about the cable company.

The union denies the claims.

“This is just another in a string of baseless and frivolous lawsuits from Cablevision, which, like all the earlier ones, will be dismissed,” Shelton, Vice President of Communications Workers of America District 1, said in a statement. “Rather than stop the outrageous behavior at Cablevision and pay Brooklyn workers the same wages as other Cablevision employees, [CEO] James Dolan is again turning to expensive lawyers to try to intimidate workers and their allies. It's time for him to sit down and negotiate in good faith with Cablevision workers.”

According to the suit, Cablevision claims Local 1109 made “a series of false and malicious statements” about the company in connection to the termination of Jerome Thompson, a former Cablevision technician who was terminated by the company on Aug. 20. Cablevision claims Thompson was terminated due to “a years-long history of deliberate disregard for company policies,” and was not racially motivated, as the CWA has claimed.

The lawsuit is the latest salvo in what has been an ongoing battle between Cablevision and the union, ever since workers at the Brooklyn office voted for representation in 2012.  Earlier this month, Cablevision held an informal vote that it claimed showed a majority of workers in Brooklyn don’t want the union any more. The CWA countered that Cablevision has used strong-arm tactics to try to persuade workers to drop the union and claims the majority of workers continue to want representation.

According to the most recent suit, Cablevision claimed Thompson violated company policies in a number of instances, including showing up for work improperly dressed, refusing to accept a new company headset and throwing it on a desk in an aggressive manner, hitting a Cablevision building with a company vehicle and denting its garage doors with his ladder, sideswiping another Company vehicle in an avoidable accident. After being issued a final warning in March, Thompson continued to violate policy, Cablevision claimed, including using a company phone for personal use – he allegedly racked up charges 25 times more than the average worker and used 4,303 minutes of talk time in April 2014, compared to the average worker’s 184 minutes of usage. Thompson also is accused of playing loud music in his car and disrupting company events, and referring to the company’s treatment of employees to “America’s historical treatment of slaves” at a company branding and marketing meeting.

After Thompson was terminated, Cablevision claims the union passed out flyers during an event on Sept. 18 hosted by Dolan – most likely a concert at Madison Square Garden on Sept. 18, where his band – JD & The Straight Shot – was opening for The Eagles. According to the suit, the flyers stated that Cablevision had fired an employee for “talking about slavery” and had rewarded another employee for using a racially insensitive term.    

 “The CWA union is knowingly disseminating false and defamatory statements in an attempt to negatively impact Cablevision’s business and damage the reputation of the company and its employees,” Cablevision said in a statement. “The CWA’s desperate campaign is designed to spread lies and misinformation to Cablevision’s customers, elected officials and the public at large. It is clear that the CWA will stop at nothing to advance its selfish interests and we are asking the Court to put an immediate halt to their unlawful and malicious activities.”