All but one of the 22 workers at Brooklyn Cablevision, who the Communications Workers of America (CWA) says were illegally fired in January, are now back on the job, according to Erin Mahoney, organizing coordinator for CWA District 1.

Through emails, Facebook likes, petitions, rallies and other means, more than 100,000 people showed their support for the workers who have been attempting to negotiate a contract with Cablevision for more than a year. The workers vow they will continue to demand a fair contract.   

The Communications Workers of America (CWA) reported that today, 23 Brooklyn Cablevision workers were illegally fired after attempting to discuss the lack of good-faith bargaining by the company with their management and expressing support for their bargaining committee—protected activities by federal law. The CWA, which the workers voted to join a year ago, condemned the firings as an illegal and outrageous attack on the company’s hardworking employees. Last week, CWA had filed unfair labor practice charges, alleging bad-faith bargaining by Cablevision-Optimum.

Yesterday, 282 Cablevision technicians and dispatchers in Brooklyn voted to join the Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 1109 in a union election administered by the National Labor Relations Board, overcoming a vigorous anti-union campaign led by Cablevision. They are the first Cablevision workers to join a union. Cable TV is an overwhelmingly nonunion industry while the traditional telecommunications industry remains highly unionized.

Today, 285 Brooklyn-based Cablevision workers—the Cablevision 99%—will vote in a election for union representation.