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Iowa Cable Workers Vote IBEW

June 27, 2005

IBEW Local 1634 negotiations committee for a first contract with Mediacom Communications include clockwise from bottom left, Derrick McDannald, Justin Ahlf, John Daggit, Local 1634 Business Manager Brian Heins and International Representative Tad Gusta. Brian Gaudet is not pictured.

Despite the vigorous anti-union campaign by the usual union-busting suspects, a solid unit of technicians and cable installers at Mediacom Communications has voted overwhelmingly for the IBEW.

The workers in Iowa City, Iowa, voted 27-4 in favor of representation by Coralville Local 1634 in the March 3 National Labor Relations Board election at Mediacom, a cable television company with 1.5 million subscribers in 23 states.

Tired of low pay, difficult working conditions and unfair management, a few workers initially reached out to the IBEW. Eleventh District International Representative Tad Gusta and Local 1634 leaders took it from there.

"If you look at the cable TV industry, they all get paid like crap – and have a dirty, risky job," Gusta said. "They climb the same poles as our members at telephone companies who are making probably three times more than them. It’s time we cracked this cable anti-union nut."

Organizers encountered a group of workers that were motivated for a voice on the job. Of the 30-worker unit, between 15 and 20 workers always showed up to meetings. The pro-union sentiment in Iowa City and Coralville also helped cement support, Gusta said.

Two months into negotiations for a first contract, Gusta said the two sides are making progress, with tentative agreements on several large issues already cleared.

The IBEW lost an election for a larger Mediacom unit in Des Moines in 2003. Mediacom brought in the same group of union busting lawyers using the same tactics it did for the Iowa City campaign.

"It’s an old saying but by God it’s the truth: united we bargain and divided we fall," Gusta said.