St. Croix Cable TV employees who have been locked out of their jobs for almost two weeks because they wouldn’t sign on with the United Steelworkers of America union will do so today, Monday, under protest.
Terrence Nelson, president of Our Virgin Islands Labor Union, which represents about 24 cable workers, said that because of mounting financial pressure during the holiday season, the employees would sign USW dues forms.
He said the workers will not waive any of their pending claims with the National Labor Relations Board because the move is being done under protest.
"I don’t want to give the public the notion we’re giving up," said Nelson.
The cable employees have been locked out of their jobs since Nov. 21 because their parent company, Innovative Communication Corp., and the USW claim that the contract between them calls for a closed shop.
ICC’s position is that the OVILU members were to be absorbed by the USW when a new contract between ICC and the USW took effect on Nov. 21, when the company opened its new St. Croix building. The opening coincided with ICC’s consolidation of its subsidiary holdings –– the V.I. Telephone Corp., St. Croix Cable TV, St. Thomas-St. John Cable TV, Vitelcellular and Vitelcom –– into one company, Innovative.
But a NLRB administrative law judge ruled in September that the operative date to determine accretion was Aug. 30, 1999. That was the date the USW demanded to be placed on the ballot with OVILU when the cable employees voted for their representation.
In September 1999, the cable workers unanimously chose OVILU.
The administrative law judge said that because the cable workers were performing separate jobs from Vitelco workers in August 1999, they should be absorbed by the USW. The ruling also said that ICC had taken part in unfair labor practices. A U.S. District Court upheld that finding.
Since then, OVILU has again filed unfair labor charges against ICC. Nelson said NLRB officials will be on St. Croix Monday to begin an investigation.
