Cablevision employees in Brooklyn vote to join CWA; union eyes other cable MSOs

Cablevision (NYSE: CVC) executives may soon be forced to negotiate labor agreements with a union, after 282 of its Brooklyn, N.Y.-based technicians and dispatchers passed a vote to join the Communications Workers of America on Thursday.

Tim Dubnau, an organizing coordinator at CWA Local 1109, told FierceCable Friday that the union also hopes to bring collective bargaining to other New York area cable providers such as Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA) and Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) and RCN. CWA already represents Verizon (NYSE: VZ) installers. The union led a two-week strike that crippled Verizon's FiOS TV and Internet installations and repairs last August.

But Dubnau said CWA's immediate focus is to negotiate a new labor contract with increased wages for Cablevision employees in Brooklyn. That process won't begin until the union vote is certified by the National Labor Relations Board, which would occur within five days unless Cablevision files and objection, Dubnau said.

Cablevision said in a statement that it was "disappointed" by the vote. "In the worst economy in memory, Cablevision has not laid off a single technician, unlike our competitors who have cut thousands of unionized positions. In fact, Cablevision has created jobs.  We value our employees and the work they do and believe the CWA has little to offer them. We are assessing our options," the company said in its statement.

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