Cablevision Goes After de Blasio in New Ads

One week after Cablevision was accused of rigging a vote by Brooklyn employees on whether they wanted to continue their fight to unionize, the company ran a pair of print advertisements Tuesday that call out Mayor Bill de Blasio for supporting the workers and the union they are choosing to represent them, the Communications Workers of America District One. 

The ads, which ran in the Tuesday editions of the New York Post and the New York Times, include a picture of de Blasio with CWA District One Vice President Chris Shelton, and three bullet points painting the mayor as cozy with the union leadership.

Addressing the mayor, the bullet points read:

• "After being blocked for nearly three years by the Communications Workers of America union, last week, Cablevision Brooklyn employees voted to reject CWA representation in an independent election. 
• "Your close political supporters--Bob Master, CWA, and the Working Families Party--are pursuing their own narrow, union agenda and ignoring the voices of Cablevision's Brooklyn employees."
• "That's not right."

The ads then challenge de Blasio directly, "As Mayor of all New York City, it is time to put the will of our employees ahead of the selfish political agenda of these union bosses." 

CWA leadership fired back at Cablevision's ads in a statement by Shelton. 

“All the money that James Dolan is spending can’t obscure the truth," Sheldon said. "Rather than negotiate a contract that ensures that Brooklyn Cablevision workers get paid the same as workers throughout the company, he’d rather fire union supporters and spend money on fancy ads and lawyers. Despite the intimidation, harassment, firings, and sham polls, Brooklyn Cablevision workers remain committed to standing up for their rights.”

Cablevision's defiant ad campaign comes after the company chose to hire a third party company, Honest Ballot Services, to conduct a poll of the Brooklyn employees on whether they still wanted CWA representation nearly three years after 180 of the employees voted to unionize. The poll found that only 115 Brooklyn workers wanted to remain with CWA, while 129 workers did not, numbers that were immediately questioned by CWA leadership, which accused the company of rigging the vote. 

Mayor de Blasio has previously issued statements reaffirming his support for the union, and that CWA's allegations that Cablevision interfered with the union vote were "deeply troubling."