Our new issue, “After Bernie,” is out now. Our questions are simple: what did Bernie accomplish, why did he fail, what is his legacy, and how should we continue the struggle for democratic socialism? Get a discounted print subscription today !

In late July, Governor Andrew Cuomo’s appointees on the New York Public Service Commission (PSC) voted to ban Charter Communications, the nation’s second-largest cable company, from the state. The PSC ordered Charter to develop a plan to leave the state and transfer its network to another owner within sixty days, though given the company’s plans to sue to reverse the ruling, it will likely remain in the state beyond that. Charter, which does business under the brand Spectrum in New York, has an annual net income of nearly $10 billion and total assets of $146.6 billion, earning a place on the Fortune 100 list of largest US companies. Like many cable and telecommunications companies, Charter enjoys a monopoly or near-monopoly in many of the markets where it operates. What leads a business-friendly Democrat like Cuomo to attack one of the country’s largest corporations? In part, it has to do with the fact that about 1,800 Charter workers represented by IBEW Local 3 have been on strike against the company for over a year. And while Cuomo is no leftist and definitely no friend of the working class, he has begun to pay lip service to progressive causes as a result of facing a far more progressive challenger, Cynthia Nixon, in his reelection bid. Cuomo’s real motives are clear enough. But this episode provides lessons for present and future leftist officeholders. We should watch it closely.

Clash of the Titans In its ruling, the PSC alleges that Charter failed to make sufficient progress in extending its internet service to 145,000 new residences in rural parts of the state — a condition for the commission’s approval of the merger with Time Warner that enabled the company to do business in New York. Charter disputes the PSC’s accounting, claiming it has already extended coverage to eighty-six thousand new residences. Regardless of the numbers, it’s highly unusual for a telecom company to face such drastic action for failing to meet the obligations in the operating agreement it signs with a state or local government. For example, New York City signed a deal with Verizon in 2008 to make fiber optic internet available to every home in the city. City officials did not get serious about enforcing this provision until nine years later , and Verizon has still not faced any consequences for failing to meet its end of the agreement. In fact, cities across the country regularly bring legal action against cable and internet companies. But even when cities receive damages, the judgments almost never seriously threaten the companies’ profits. Losing the right to operate in the third-largest state in the country, on the other hand, would seriously affect Charter’s bottom line. Many people, including Charter, believe Cuomo’s real motivation for the attack is to benefit the 1,800 members of IBEW Local 3 who have been on strike against the company since March 2017. In a September 2017 rally with Local 3 workers, Cuomo said , I am going to hold [Charter] to every letter and the spirit of [the agreement allowing it to operate in the state], and if they don’t get their act together and fulfill that agreement, they’re going to be out of the State of New York. I want Charter to understand this. This is not a one day affair. This is not the end. Today is the beginning. And what’s happening here today is the labor movement coming together in a way they haven’t come together in decades . . . If we stand together as one and rededicate ourselves to the proposition that union brothers and union sisters stand together in solidarity, that if you attack one of us you attack all of us, there is no beating us. That’s what the Local 3 fight is all about: it’s for the working men and women in this state and this is a fight that we will not lose, that we cannot lose. I will be with you every step of the way. Strong stuff, but it had little effect on the strike. Local 3 workers remain on strike today, but they have almost completely demobilized. They have not held major rallies or picket lines in months, and Charter does not appear to be significantly impacted by the strike. If Cuomo’s goal is to use the PSC to help settle a good contract for Local 3 members, he’s about a year too late. This tactic is in keeping with Cuomo’s strategy of keeping his allies weak (and thus dependent on him), as well as his preference for wheeling and dealing among elites rather than engaging meaningfully with average New Yorkers . And while the historically anti-union governor is unenthusiastic about granting New Yorkers more rights at work, he has won the endorsement of almost every major union in the state. Cuomo has delivered a few real , though insufficient, benefits to some sections of organized labor. But while he has kept high-level union officials on his side after initial confrontations at the beginning of his first term in office, he has also consistently sought to suppress state workers’ wages and benefits, demanding givebacks on pensions and agreeing to minimal raises. The split of the formerly union-backed New York Working Families Party over whether to endorse Cuomo or his challenger Cynthia Nixon suggests another interpretation of the PSC’s ruling. Namely, it raises the possibility that Cuomo is sending a message to high-level union officials: the governor can be your powerful friend — or your powerful enemy.