From the July-August 2017 issue of News & Letters

Trade unionists come out in force to support the striking Spectrum Communications workers.

New York City—Three months into the strike begun at the end of March by workers at Spectrum (formerly Time Warner Cable), a strike captain with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers told News & Letters on a picket line in front of a Spectrum store in Manhattan that Spectrum management has drawn a line in the sand and is refusing to negotiate with the union. They are hiring replacement workers and bringing in scabs.

But the union is hanging just as tough, and strikers, who have been working without a contract since 2013, have no intention of backing down. At the picket line, strikers and allies from other unions chanted, “What do we want? A contract! When do we want it? Now!” Picketers circled in front of the Manhattan Spectrum Center, bringing the strike to the attention of the public and appealing for support.

Earlier in the year, New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman charged Spectrum and its parent corporation with deliberately deceiving consumers about their services. The union is putting pressure on city government to revoke Spectrum’s right to provide services here. There is no end in sight for this titanic battle.

—Natalia Spiegel