Teresa Casertano in the AFL-CIO Organizing Department tsends us this report.

Next week, 285  Brooklyn employees of Cablevision Systems Corp. will vote on whether to join the Communications Workers of America (CWA). Faced with low salaries and inadequate protections on the job, Cablevision installers in Brooklyn decided to join together to seek changes at work. The cable installers, who complete eight installations per day, carrying heavy ladders and climbing poles, earn a third less than their unionized counterparts. In contrast, Cablevision CEO James Dolan received $13 million last year. Dolan is also the executive chairman of the Madison Square Garden Corp. where he received another $2 million in compensation.

When workers began their efforts to organize at the workplace, the company hired a well-known union-busting firm to carry out a campaign to persuade them to give up their efforts to join the union. It launched an internal website called “Why Union Free?” and required all 285 workers to attend anti-union meetings. But workers have not been convinced to give up—they have been holding their own worker meetings and take actions to show solidarity and unity among the union supporters.

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the Cablevision workers and the CWA organized a powerful rally outside the annual MLK Day game at Madison Square Garden to protest Cablevision’s fierce anti-union campaign. The location was chosen because of Dolan’s powerful position within the Madison Square Garden Corporation. The protesters, among them many Cablevision workers, were joined by several elected officials. The Rev. Al Sharpton sent a written message directed to the workers, which stated:

Today, we honor Martin Luther King Jr.’s memory by standing with the workers of Cablevision who are demanding respect and dignity and the right to join a union. Dr. King fought side by side with workers, raising his voice in unity with theirs.

The story of the Cablevision workers in Brooklyn, N.Y., was featured in the New York Times,  and highlighted the workers’ resolve to participate in the union. The company has turned the election not just into a choice about whether to join a union—it is ensuring the workers to decide whether they will succumb to manipulation and harassment or stand up and exercise their rights. To date, Cablevision workers have remained united in their effort to become union members. CWA and the AFL-CIO support them and will stand with them when they vote on Jan. 26.