Businesses of the Monitor Township DDA

The Charter Communications building at 1480 S. Valley Center Drive in Bay County's Monitor Township.

(Yfat Yossifor | MLive.com)

BAY CITY, MI -- Five ex-Charter Communications employees claim that the cable provider illegally fired them for trying to form a union.

Weeks after he was fired in October 2014, Jonathan French, a Saginaw resident who worked two years as an auditor for Charter, was the first to file a grievance with the National Labor Relations Board. Four employees within five months of their termination filed unfair labor practice charges.

The case has made its way to a federal administrative law judge to determine if Charter violated the National Labor Relations Act. Proceedings have taken place in Bay City this past week.

Terry Morgan

"It is our theory that the people involved in this case were discriminated against because they supported the idea of forming a union," said Terry Morgan, regional director of Region 7 of the National Labor Relations Board in Detroit.

Attorneys representing Charter declined to comment.

According to court documents, In September 2014, Charter learned some of its employees were stealing from the company by performing activities on company time that weren't related to the cable operator's business. Specifically, Charter learned that a manager, "routinely pulled employees out of the field to complete personal, directed non-Charter tasks," according to court records.

Charter determined the five employees who were interviewed during their investigation, including French, were "dishonest," and "interfered with the integrity of the investigation" by withholding information," according to court records. Charter officials went on to say the employees were also "disrespectful and generally uncooperative during the investigation." They were all later fired.

French contends he never worked to organize a union during work hours.

"You don't fire employees who are doing good work," he said. "I had my reviews to prove that I was a good employee."

French, 37, said he wanted to form a union for "employee fairness." He contends Charter technicians are paid less for the same work that is done at competitors, such as Comcast or Time Warner.

"It's an issue of fair wages," he said.

French and the four other employees are asking for full reinstatement of their jobs plus back pay.

Morgan, with the NLRB, anticipates court proceedings to last several more days.

The Federal Communications Commission this week approved a deal for Charter to buy Time Warner Cable, making it the country's second-largest home Internet and cable TV provider.