My fellow Bronx technicians:

Id like to take a moment of your time to advise of something of vital importance. If you are not at
all concerned with the security of your employment here at AlticeUSA, then kindly close this
email and click the trash bin. Otherwise, please continue reading.
Many of you already know who I am. For those who do not, my name is Paul Murray and Ive
been employed here 23 years. Ive spent the last 16 years as an Outside Plant Tech and 6
years in Field Service prior to that. I consider myself to be a well experienced tech with a strong
work ethic and have always favored quality over quantity.
Now, the reason I write to you this morning is to find out what were prepared to do to protect
ourselves. Its been exactly 56 days since Altice has assumed control and theyve already hit the
ground running towards their goal of $900 million in synergies. Just take notice to what was
done last week. The company announced that theyll be closing down its Shelton and Stratford
call centers which will result in 600 employees losing their jobs.
Do you think that we should sit back and wait to see what monumental cost-cutting measures
theyll do next?
What I am advocating is for us to unionize right now. I believe this is the only option we have to
provide us with some level of job security moving forward. Whether youve been here less than
a year or over twenty years, the seriousness of this situation concerns every one of us.
Some of you may be thinking that were already protected because of the conditions included in
Altices agreement with the NYS Public Service Commission, where it states that the company
is prohibited from laying off any customer-facing jobs for four years. This is all well and good but
it is not adequate protection. We are all At-Will employees which means the company can still
terminate you at any time for any reason. Furthermore, the company is free to change the terms
& conditions of our employment at any time with no accountability.
Here are just a few examples of changes they can make;
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)

eliminate the free cable benefit

eliminate boot vouchers (buy your own boots)
reduce your wages
increase health insurance costs
increase the requirement of points per day
implementation of more unfair metrics (e.g. Trouble-call repeat % / NID repeat %)
the use of Fleetmatics for disciplinary action
systematically backfill tech positions with contractors

Unfortunately, some of us are unaware of the advantages of being union. This is partly due to
the fact that weve been indoctrinated into believing that unions are all bad, unable to do
anything for you and only exist to take your money. Because of this mindset, many of us are
extremely dismissive at the mere mention of the word Union.
It is a must we educate ourselves so that we can make more informed decisions.

Here are three significant benefits of a union;

Job Security - can only be terminated for just cause / grievance procedure / Weingarten rights
Strength in numbers - Collective bargaining enables us to negotiate the terms & conditions of
employment
Seniority - a very important factor in determining promotions and also eliminates favoritism
It is my intention to help us organize with a union of our choice, however, I must first get an idea
of how many of us are ready to take action right now. Please email me at bxunion@gmail.com
when youre on your lunch break or any other non-working time. If you support this cause,
contact me and say just that. Once I see a reasonable number of positive responses, we will
promptly move on to the next step. Also, feel free to use that email for questions you may have
and Ill make sure I reply as soon as I can.
Remember, individualism is not an option. We must band together in order to make this happen.