NLRB Hearing Officer: Time Warner Provided Gifts To Sway Union Election

Attorney James Hykel, on behalf of
IBEW Local 2324, persuaded an independent hearing officer to set aside a National Labor Relations Board election because a division of multi-national conglomerate Time Warner basically attempted to buy union opposition. The Hearing Officer recommended that the election be re-run so that employees have a genuine opportunity to vote about union representation free of undue influence or coercion.

This case involved a group of more than two dozen Time Warner Cable Northeast technicians based in Pittsfield. The technicians, aided by Local 2324, asked for the chance to form a union. Time Warner Cable is intensely anti-union. Prior to the scheduled February 2015 election, Time Warner Cable held an unprecedented party for employees. Time Warner invited employees to a free "Tubing Night" at a local ski resort that included free admission, food, and drinks. Further, each attending employee received a prize - ranging from electronic devices and a television.

Hykel's intense cross-examination revealed different explanations from supervisors as to why Time Warner Cable supervisors held the bash, even though they all denied it was to influence the election. This inconsistency by the employer witnesses, coupled with the unprecedented nature and size of the gifts, led the Hearing Officer to conclude that the party interfered with the election. He concluded, "I find that a reasonable employee would view this as a message from the Employer that employees would be better off without a union." Such a message is improper, if not unlawful.