May 11, 2011
Mr. Brian Roberts, CEO
Comcast Corporation
One Comcast Center
Philadelphia, PA 19103-2838

Dear Mr. Roberts,

Frustrated by a lack of respect from local management and without a meaningful voice in our work, the Comcast technicians at the Fall River and Fairhaven garages began organizing in the spring of 2010. By the fall of 2010, over 65 percent of the techs supported forming a union with IBEW Local 2322 in Southeastern Mass.

The National Labor Relations Act provides two routes for workers to achieve collective bargaining. Workers can gain certification based on a National Labor Relations Board-conducted secret ballot election or seek voluntary recognition from their employer based on reliable evidence of majority support.

Knowing the long history of aggressive interference by Comcast management in union elections, we chose to seek voluntary recognition.

On September 24, Congressman Stephen Lynch and Fall River Mayor William Flanagan counted our union authorization cards and certified that a strong majority of us desired to form a union and begin collective bargaining. The two elected officials informed Comcast of the card count and our union requested that management voluntary recognize the techs union and begin collective bargaining.

But so far local Comcast management has refused to sit down and talk.

Support for our cause is growing. Since the September 2010 card count, Congressmen Barney Frank, Jim McGovern, Bill Keating and Senator John Kerry have also urged Comcast to begin talks with us. Six towns on Martha's Vineyard, Cambridge, Springfield and Nahant have proposed new language in their franchise renewal agreements urging Comcast to respect workers' rights. And hundreds of our co-workers across the country have signed letters of solidarity and support for us.

A meaningful conversation between the techs in Southeastern Mass and our local Comcast managers is long overdue! We are writing hoping that you will urge our managers to take this approach and encourage them to sit down and talk with us about our wages and working conditions as soon as possible.

Sincerely,

The Comcast technicians from the Fall River and Fairhaven garages,
united in IBEW Local 2322

 Really? Does local management control how much money is allocated for our merit raises? Do they control how many points are allotted for each job you go to? Do they have the power to recognize you as a union? When did we become a "Garage"? Just wondering if I missed a meeting or something.

This is the response some of us have for that letter. This is the letter that the IBEW is so afraid of. By the way, I wrote this after being approched by several other employees. Like me, they didn't appreciate the IBEW sending that letter to Comcast on their behalf. 

Dear Mr. Roberts

             We are writing to you in response to a letter you received from the Comcast Technicians in the Fall River/ Fairhaven "Garages" and the IBEW local 2322 on May 20th 2011. While we are sure we do not have to reiterate the entire contents of the FR/FH IBEW letter, there are several things we would like to touch upon. First, we would like to state for the record that this FR/FH IBEW letter does not represent all of the techs in our FMA. Secondly, we would like to thank Comcast for not giving into the surmounting pressure from some of the technicians, local government officials and others, by voluntarily recognizing the FR/FH Technicians as unionized. While some may consider this a form of aggression on Comcast's part, we do not. After all, it is our right as Americans to have the freedom of choice. While the FR/FH techs state they want a voice here at Comcast, they have no regard for those of us that do not wish to be spoken for in such a manner. We feel we have a voice. We feel we have the respect of our local management. We feel we have a platform for operational issues. We have all of this through our weekly and monthly meetings, the open door policy, the ongoing focus groups, and the knowledge that our management team is always willing to listen. In closing, we feel we have the power to speak for ourselves and do not want others to speak for us. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

The other FR/FH Technicians

 If you would like to sign this letter call me. I will meet you on my personal time.

 This letter has been sent out on 9-9-2011.

This is what the IBEW did to me when they heard I wrote a letter. They didn't know what the letter stated, but they put this on their BLOG based on pure rumor. That's not the kind of organization I want representing me, do you?

 D Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2011 9:58 pm Post subject: Ilegal and unethical in Fairhaven Registered User

We just got word today that Cathy Saltalamacia is soliciting signatures during company time, in front of management, on an anti-union letter to go to Brian Roberts.Techs are saying they are being coersed into signing the letter because
management is watching. This is ILLEGAL, not only that it is against company policy. I guess Arlene Fidalgo will allow such behavior if it is in her best interest.This is the same manager who pulled a tech into her office and explained to him that soliciting signatures on union cards, on company time, was against Comcast rules and he can be disciplined. Well Arlene we would all like to know if you are
going to discipline Cathy for blatenly breaking company rules in soliciting signatures on an anti-union letter to Roberts. This is another example of how Comcast breaks
federal law in keeping unions out. All of these behaviors are being documented, and in the end management will have to explain there behaviors in this legal matter.
You might think with all the political leaders watching this organizing drive Arlene would be a little smarter than this. Some of the workers came over to me and told
me they didn't want to sign the letter but they fear they may lose there jobs, so they did it to make management happy. A rumor going around is management
drew up this letter as well. We will bring all of these tactics to light when the time comes. the time is quickly approaching. We are waiting to see what will be done
about breaking the NO SOLICITING policy that is being broken. Cathy we know why the line techs don't want the union. It must be because of things like half days on
fridays to go back to the office for a cookout. Well i have a new issue for the focusgroup, if any of the techs from the focus group are reading, why do line techs get a
half day on friday for a cookout and we service tech have to work like @$$holes all day. Favoritism runs deep in Fairhaven.

 Is this how the IBEW protects the workers? What else is the IBEW willing to do if someone disagrees with them?

I guess their Anonymous Blog is only Anonymous if it's convenient for them. 

Back in June of this year the NLRB proposed some rule changes to the election process. Some may like these proposals and others will not. Since the Employee Free Choice Act seems to be dead in the water, I wonder if this will end up being the new version of the Employee Free Choice Act. Check out the new rules and some of the opinions.