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Iowa Cable Workers Vote IBEW
June 27, 2005
IBEW Local 1634 negotiations committee for a first contract with
Mediacom Communications include clockwise from bottom left,
Derrick McDannald, Justin Ahlf, John Daggit, Local 1634 Business
Manager Brian Heins and International Representative Tad Gusta.
Brian Gaudet is not pictured.>
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Despite the vigorous anti-union campaign by the usual union-busting
suspects, a solid unit of technicians and cable installers at Mediacom
Communications has voted overwhelmingly for the IBEW.
The workers in Iowa City, Iowa, voted 27-4 in favor of representation
by Coralville Local 1634 in the March 3 National Labor Relations Board
election at Mediacom, a cable television company with 1.5 million
subscribers in 23 states.
Tired of low pay, difficult working conditions and unfair management,
a few workers initially reached out to the IBEW. Eleventh District
International Representative Tad Gusta and Local 1634 leaders took it
from there.
"If you look at the cable TV industry, they all get paid like crap –
and have a dirty, risky job," Gusta said. "They climb the same poles as
our members at telephone companies who are making probably three times
more than them. It’s time we cracked this cable anti-union nut."
Organizers encountered a group of workers that were motivated for a
voice on the job. Of the 30-worker unit, between 15 and 20 workers
always showed up to meetings. The pro-union sentiment in Iowa City and
Coralville also helped cement support, Gusta said.
Two months into negotiations for a first contract, Gusta said the two
sides are making progress, with tentative agreements on several large
issues already cleared.
The IBEW lost an election for a larger Mediacom unit in Des Moines in
2003. Mediacom brought in the same group of union busting lawyers using
the same tactics it did for the Iowa City campaign.
"It’s an old saying but by God it’s the truth: united we bargain and
divided we fall," Gusta said.
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