Hundreds protest outside Stamford cable company

Members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 3 picket outside the Charter Spectrum offices in an effort to maintain their health care and retirement benefits, in Stamford, Conn. on Tuesday, April 25, 2017. less Members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 3 picket outside the Charter Spectrum offices in an effort to maintain their health care and retirement benefits, in Stamford, Conn. on ... more Photo: Michael Cummo / Hearst Connecticut Media Buy photo Photo: Michael Cummo / Hearst Connecticut Media Image 1 of / 23 Caption Close Hundreds protest outside Stamford cable company 1 / 23 Back to Gallery

STAMFORD — Charter Spectrum cable technicians demand to keep their benefits and say they no longer want to be blamed for the company’s “old and faulty” equipment.

More than 300 striking workers loudly protested for hours Tuesday morning outside the company’s Atlantic Street headquarters.

The workers are among 1,800 in-house cable technicians who belong to the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 3 who walked out March 28 in their quest to preserve health and pension benefits under a new contract.

Lance Van Arsdale, assistant business manager of the union, said negotiations reached an impasse last month when Charter proposed moving workers to the company’s health plan, which would require a $3,000 deductible and would end employer contributions to the union pension plan.

The union also protested the company disciplining workers for repetitive service problems that Van Arsdale attributed to Charter’s “old and faulty” equipment.

The sides haven’t reached a contract agreement since 2013.

“We’ve been able to strike good faith agreements with every single predecessor company since 1972,” Van Arsdale said.

In January, the New York Attorney General filed a lawsuit against Charter Communications and its subsidiary, Spectrum Management Holdings, for defrauding and misleading New York customers by promising faster Internet service than they could provide, according to the complaint.

Dennis Burgess, a cable technician assigned to Manhattan, said the company’s disciplinary policy scapegoats the workers for substandard equipment that often fails.

“They are punishing us for service failures even if it has nothing to do with craftsmanship,” said the 34-year-old, who has been working for the company since 2006. “The new management doesn’t care about craftsmanship, the equipment or anything except making their numbers look good.”

Charter also wants to reassign workers geographically throughout New York City’s five boroughs, Van Arsdale said.

Charter purchased Time Warner Cable, the previous cable and Internet service in New York and New Jersey, for $55 billion last year.

Charter rebranded its offerings of digital TV, Internet and voice products as Spectrum and are used by about 2.5 million customers in New York and New Jersey.

Van Arsdale said workers disciplined for repeat service calls were excluded from training necessary to advance their careers even though the problems were due to poor equipment.

“The engineers at the company told the marketers that they were promising speeds they couldn’t deliver,” Van Arsdale said. "The workers are getting scapegoated for the equipment.”

John Bonomo, a Charter spokesman, reissued an earlier statement defending the company’s proposal that did not address specifics about the plan, including the increased deductible or pension changes.

“Spectrum is dedicated to providing great service to our customers, and investing in our workforce is a critical part of how we do that,” Bonomo said. “This is why Spectrum is offering our field technicians a pay increase larger than the union has demanded, along with competitive and robust health care and retirement benefits.”

Bonomo also said he was “disappointed” in the New York lawsuit, which accuses the company of false advertising dating back to 2012 before the Time Warner merger.

“Charter made significant commitments to New York state as part of our merger with Time Warner Cable in areas of network investment, broadband deployment and offerings, customer service and jobs,” Bonomo’s statement read. “Charter has already made substantial investments in the interest of upgrading the Time Warner Cable systems and delivering the best possible experience to customers.”

Derek Jordan, a business representative for the union, said Charter Spectrum’s proposed wage increases for union members does not offset the cuts in health and pension benefits.

“In many cases, they are raising the wage from $10.50 or $11 to $15, which in 2018 will be the (New York) state minimum wage anyway,” Jordan said. “Having the $3,000 deductible and losing pension benefits makes it into a huge giveback.”