Altice USA workers in the Bronx and Piscataway, New Jersey, have voted against taking on union representation.
The MSO confirmed that workers in Piscataway voted against representation by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), while their peers in the Bronx shot down representation efforts by the Communications Workers of America (CWA).
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For the second time since 2012, the 300 Altice employees in the Bronx voted not to unionize, this time by a margin of 113-92. This followed a withdrawal by the CWA in Brooklyn, where the union had previously managed to put around 250 tech workers for the erstwhile Cablevision in its fold.
In Piscataway, the vote was 53-43 against representation. The IBCW had previously abandoned efforts to unionize Altice workers in Newark, New Jersey.
The votes against unionization came despite concerns regarding Altice’s plans to spin its tech workers into a separate company. Last month, Altice announced the newly coined “Altice Technical Services,” which will include Altice USA’s field service, construction & fiber, design, outside plant maintenance, inside-plant and field-based employees serving commercial accounts.
CWA and IBEW reps told workers that the establishment of the new unit was merely Altice’s attempt to create a loophole to New York State regulator conditions that called for the European operator not to cut U.S. jobs after it acquired Cablevision last year.
For its part, Cablevision said its aggressive outreach and reassurances to its tech workers won the day. This outreach included Altice USA CEO Dexter Goei speaking directly to Altice tech employees last week.