Two dozen St. Croix Cable TV employees were locked out of their company’s shiny new building Tuesday, apparently because they wouldn’t abide by their boss’s order that they join a particular labor union.
According to the turned-away workers, they tried to report to work but were met by employees of Innovative Communication Corp., which is owned by Jeffrey Prosser, who said they wouldn’t be allowed on company property unless they signed up as members of the local United Steelworkers of America.
In a unanimous vote in September 1999, the 24 St. Croix Cable TV employees chose to join a new organization on St. Croix, the Our Virgin Islands Labor Union.
The employees, who hold installation, technical, maintenance, clerical and customer positions, voted to become members of the OVILU rather than the United Steelworkers of America. OVILU was certified as a bargaining unit by the National Labor Relations Board the previous May.
And that, apparently, is the problem. According to ICC, the company that owns Vitelco; St. Croix Cable TV; St. Thomas-St. John Cable TV; Vitelcellular and Vitelcom, has consolidated operations on St. Croix into a new building in the Sunny Isle area. According to an ICC statement, employees of Vitelco’s sister companies were cross-trained and "are now part of the Vitelco family."
A family in which workers have been represented by the United Steelworkers Union for the past 27 years.
"All employees whose job functions are part of the merger are now represented by the Steelworkers of America," the ICC statement said. "Vitelco has a collective bargaining agreement with the United Steel Workers of America that ICC must and will honor."
But NLRB administrative judge and a U.S. District Court judge have recognized OVILU and ordered ICC to bargain with the union as well as transfer workers’ benefits to its members.
Terrence Nelson, OVILU president, said ICC’s actions on Tuesday show the company is acting in bad faith. He said the company broke off negotiations in mid-October and has failed to comply with the NLRB’s ruling.
"This will lead us into new legal action…," Nelson said. "We’re going to fight this to the end. It’s wrong. They are favoring one union. It’s an unfair labor practice."
Nelson said employees were told they have until Wednesday afternoon to sign up with the United Steelworkers Union. He said that an ICC lawyer told him if they don’t they won’t be fired, they’ll just be locked out and not paid.
Ricky Brown, a Cable TV customer service representative, said he and his colleagues understand the company must consolidate to survive. But he said the company is denying interfering with his right to organize.
"The company is systematically denying our rights," he said. "Our right is to choose our representation. Basically we’ve been violated."
Brown said the 24 Cable TV workers showed up to Tuesday ready to work. Instead they found a hostile environment.
"We’re very displeased. We’re supposed to be negotiating right now. It’s a pattern that has been established," he said. "We came here to work and we’ve been given an ultimatum."
ICC, meanwhile, said it will continue to bargain in good faith with OVILU.
Nelson bills OVILU as progressive and focused on being an internally based financial, social and informational resource to its members and the wider community. Complaints about the United Steelworkers Union is that dues paid are shipped off island and members never see a benefit.
