The Sun
Sunnyvale's Newspaper

TCI's union workers strike for 401(K) plan

Management predicts minimal impact on customer services

By Katherine Petersen

TCI Cablevision of San Jose's union workers in Cupertino and Sunnyvale walked from a failed contract vote to the picket lines May 7. The members of the Teamsters Local 296 say all they have asked for is the same 401(K) opportunities that TCI offers its management and customer-service employees, said Mike Amaral, a union business agent.

The 188 employees, who work as dispatchers, technicians, installers, warehousers and construction workers, will remain on strike until the two sides meet with a federal mediator on May 27. The union's contract with TCI ended March 31, according to Commissioner Jerry Allen, the federal mediator assigned to the case.

Andrew Johnson, TCI's media spokesman, declined to comment on the disputed issues between the company and its union employees.

"We just don't believe it's proper to debate or discuss terms of a labor contract currently in dispute in the print or electronic media," he said.

TCI has the workers' positions covered with management and supervisory personnel, along with nonunion workers from other Bay Area communities, he said.

Managers say they hope to keep any disruptions in cable service to a minimum.

"We want to assure our customers that we've committed the resources to continue to provide cable service to them, holding any disruption to a minimum," Johnson said. "We're making sure that when customers pick up the remote control and push the button that they get a signal."

The union members voted 127-27 May 7 not to accept TCI's latest offer, Amaral said. TCI offers a 401(K) plan to nonunion workers at the company, which it matches by 15 percent, Amaral added.

"We wanted the same thing. They refused to give us the same plan," he said. "We think it's discrimination against union employees."

Union workers plan to strike until TCI sees that they need to invest in their employees' future, Amaral said.

""How can they expect employees to have loyalty to a company that doesn't want to keep them a long time or see them retire," he said. "The company will have to modify its position before this will be resolved."

Allen said he will do his best to bring about some sort of compromise, but couldn't say how long it might take.

"Some sessions begin in the morning and go all night, but some only last just into the afternoon," he said.

Amaral accused TCI of "doing its best to bust up unions. I don't like seeing people get walked on," he said.

He conceded that the management team in TCI's San Jose office has a lot of integrity for the most part, and blamed management at headquarters in Colorado for the contract impasse.

Johnson said customers should understand that the union will attempt to make TCI look unreasonable.

"That is simply not the case," he said. "The company has offered the Teamsters an equitable contract, which is very comparable to one recently accepted by other unionized TCI employees in the Bay Area."

[ Back to Contents Page | Sunnyvale Sun Home Page | Archives ]

This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, May 21, 1997.
©1997 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.