Chicago Comcast Workers Hit the Streets
for Fair Pay 

After losing basic cable subscribers and employees to competitors like Verizon and AT&T, Comcast’s shareholders would probably expect the company to focus on improving its service, sales and labor relations.

In Chicago, however, Comcast has adopted different priorities. The company’s pay practices are under the scrutiny of the Chicago City Council. And supervisors are racking up unfair labor practice charges at the National Labor Relations Board, while Comcast refuses to supply information required by the union in bargaining on a contract—expired last May—covering 100 members of Downers Grove, Ill., Local 21.  The members install and repair high-speed data, TV and telephone services.

On November 15, the dispute over pay discrimination spilled onto the street as nearly the entire Cortland Street bargaining unit notified supervisors before the start of the shift that they were taking the day off, shutting down work.

The work force at Chicago’s Cortland Street garage is predominantly African American.  Jerry Rankins, Local 21 business agent, charges that workers at the location make $3 to $5 less than Comcast’s nonunion counterparts.

About 40 members who took the day off showed up at Chicago City Hall to thank aldermen for supporting a resolution calling upon Comcast to appear before a hearing and to supply information relating to pay practices at the company’s area locations.  They presented a letter signed by all members of the bargaining unit requesting confirmation of the council’s Dec.12 hearing date.

The hearing, in response to data supplied by Local 21, will determine whether Comcast is in violation of its cable franchise agreement and the city’s cable ordinance barring discrimination in the payment of wages.

Local 21 charges that Comcast is breaching the equal employment opportunity/affirmative action plan in the franchise agreement, which includes commitments to maintain a compensation level consistent with the local geographic area, the industry and the skill involved.

Rankins says that local activists in the labor and faith-based communities are growing concerned with the cable giant’s hostile approach to its union work force and offering support.

“Nothing comes easy with this company,” says Rankins, but he is hopeful that—through the workers’ resolve—a decent contract will be negotiated. Many workers in Comcast’s numerous nonunion locations are leaving for more money as unionized AT&T hires over 2,000 area workers for two-year positions in cable splicing starting at $23 to $24 per hour. “Maybe Comcast will wake up and realize that a progressive labor relations policy that sees unions as potential allies instead of enemies will help stabilize their workforce and be better for their bottom line” he said.

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