Unionized employees at the Cablevision television company are itching to leave their union, according to a new poll.
An independent pollster hired by the company asked 264 workers at a Brooklyn plant whether they wanted to remain in the Communications Workers of America union. More than 90 percent of employees participated in the poll and anti-union voters prevailed 129-115 in the anonymous vote.
"For the first time in nearly three years, our Brooklyn employees have expressed their feelings about the CWA in a vote," the company said in a statement. "They rejected continued CWA representation. It is time for the CWA to respect our employees’ wishes and withdraw."
Workers have run into political trouble in their quest to withdraw from CWA Local 1109. Workers submitted a decertification petition to the National Labor Relations Board, a federal labor arbiter that oversees union elections, in 2013. The union responded with a slew of unfair labor practice allegations, which are often used to delay votes.
The union dismissed the poll, calling it a "sham vote" and a "new low in the behavior of American management" in a press release.
"In my decades of organizing I have never seen such arrogant actions as those taken by billionaire CEO Jim Dolan," CWA president Larry Cohen said in the release. "It is up to the rest of us to stop him and use this case as an example of what America has become."
The local union has reason to be concerned. Local 1109 lost nearly 2,000 members between 2003 and 2013, according to federal labor filings. Cablevision’s 264 workers make up more than 16 percent of Local 1109’s members. CWA netted more than $2.4 million in dues and agency fees in 2013. Losing Cablevision could cost the union nearly $400,000.
The company, which employs nearly 14,000 non-union employees, says that the union has used its political connections to suppress the vote. The New York Post reported in July that the union met secretly with Mayor Bill de Blasio to discuss the Cablevision dispute.
"I’m with you every step of the way," de Blasio reportedly told the union.
De Blasio received considerable union support in his 2013 campaign. Local 1109 doubled its political spending to more than $13,000 that year, according to federal labor filings. The CWA endorsed him early in the Democratic primary.
"CWA has many friends vying for the Democratic nomination for Mayor of New York City, but a Vice President of District One Chris Shelton said, ‘Bill stands head and shoulders above the rest,’" the union said in a release announcing the endorsement.
The company called on the mayor to listen to the voices of workers, rather than union allies.
"Mayor de Blasio is repaying a political debt to the CWA and the Working Families Party, and is advocating the union’s agenda against the wishes of our employees," the company said. "Mayor de Blasio should tell the CWA and his political friends to stop blocking our employees’ rights. We call upon the Mayor, the Working Families Party and the CWA to act promptly and allow our Brooklyn employees’ voices to prevail."
The mayor’s office did not respond to request for comment.