Will Comcast Workers Unionize?

Technician employees working out of Comcasts’s Carmel office have taken steps toward unionization with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), local 363. A secret ballot vote by the workers on whether to join the IBEW is scheduled for April 1.

On Wednesday, March 17, four representatives of the IBEW stood outside Comcast’s offices. “We’re here to show support to the workers who are meeting today with management to discuss unions from their perspective,” said Steve Smith, an IBEW representative who has had experience with unionization campaigns with Comcast before. He and other IBEW representatives distributed literature to workers as they came in.

“A strong majority of employees at Comcast’s office location in Carmel have expressed their desire to form a union with the IBEW Local 363,” read a letter by Smith to Pat Perrefert, General Manager of Comcast in Carmel. For a union vote to be held, at least 30 percent of workers have to sign a card expressing their wish to form a union.

Comcast dismissed charges that its employees are not well-looked after. “Comcast is a pro-employee company, and has been for more than 45 years,” said Comcast spokesperson Kristen Roberts. “We invest in our employees with the belief that our company can only be as strong as our workforce, and, as a result, our employees have consistently chosen to work in a union-free environment.”

“The workers here reached out to the IBEW, trying to change the situation here,” said Smith, who has been meeting with Comcast technicians over several months. “They are looking for fair treatment,” said Smith. “There has been little increase in pay, their pay raises are based on a metric of productivity—some of these things are beyond their control.”

The Comcast employees who will vote on April 1 include field technicians, line technicians, and warehouse workers. If more than 50 percent of workers vote to be represented by the union, all employees will be enrolled in the union.

“We believe that it is an employee’s choice whether or not to have union representation, and we want our employees to be fully informed with the facts,” said Roberts of the meeting Comcast conducted on Wednesday with its Carmel employees. “Most Comcast employees who have been involved in labor campaigns have declined representation, and the overwhelming majority of Comcast employees choose not to be represented by a labor union.”

“The workers want to stop this constant change of working conditions and terms of their employment,” said Smith. “Our goal is to make sure they are treated fairly and workers have a written contract; we think this will benefit Comcast.”