The Cablevision War

About the Author

Gay Semel is a retired union-side labor lawyer. She worked for CWA District 1 as District Counsel for more than thirty years and directed the District’s legal department for twenty years.

Reviews

“The Cablevision War is a powerful story of working people who refused to be intimidated, divided, or defeated. Gay Semel shows us the courage of Brooklyn workers who stood together for dignity on the job, and the vital role that unions, communities, and elected officials can play when we stand with workers in their fight for justice. At a time when too many corporations still try to silence organizing and weaken worker power, this book is both a warning and an inspiration: when workers fight for their rights and when public leaders use their voices and offices to support them, justice can prevail.”
—Letitia James, New York State Attorney General

“Gay Semel’s first person account of the epic unionization struggle waged by a set of Brooklyn Cablevision workers is compelling and dramatic. A combative and resourceful union-side lawyer, Semel makes clear that victory at the National Labor Relations Board and in the courts can only take place when workers themselves are militant and steadfast. The Cablevision Wars is an inspiring and instructive story that offers unionists and progressives an invaluable set of lessons, on-the-ground and in the hearing room.”
—Nelson Lichtenstein, author of Why Labor Unions Matter

“A vividly told inspirational story of how brave and resilient workers and their committed union, with support from bold community allies, successfully beat back aggressive corporate abuse. This beautifully-written account reflects a true demonstration of Power of the People, who, by coalescing around a common goal and flexing collective muscle through protest and other activities, bettered their lives.”
—Jennifer Abruzzo, former National Labor Relations Board General Counsel

“In this great book, Gay Semel tells the story of 280 brave cable TV workers in Brooklyn who fought for over five years to organize and win a first contract from a vicious anti-union company. Their union—the Communications Workers of America—backed them every step of the way, and never once considered giving up the fight. What is especially meaningful to me is Gay’s account of how CWA became such a tough and militant union, which she traces back to CWA's epic 218-day strike against New York Telephone in 1971. I walked that picket line for 7 ½ months and the experience taught me, and it taught a whole generation of NY phone workers, that if you stick together for as long as it takes, and if you fight as hard as you can, you can defeat even the most powerful employer. That lesson stuck with me for over 57 years in the labor movement, and it’s a lesson that makes this book invaluable, not just for every CWA member, but for trade unionists all over the country.”
—Dennis G. Trainor, Vice President, Communications Workers of America District 1

“The Cablevison War is the kind of story every organizer should read. It shows, in gripping detail, what it really takes to build a union when an employer has the money, power, and lawyers to fight back. The Brooklyn workers didn’t win because the system works—they won because they organized, stood together, and refused to give up. Their story shows that solidarity is our greatest power.”
—Stephanie Luce, author of Practical Radicals: Seven Strategies to Change the World

“Millions of American workers say they would join a union if they could—but employers will seemingly stop at nothing to prevent them from doing so. In The Cablevision Wars, Gay Semel gives an insider account of just how vicious billionaire CEOs can be in their efforts to stop their workers from unionizing. Reading this vivid story about how Brooklyn Cablevision workers were able to stick together and win their union, despite the fierce opposition of one of New York’s richest and most powerful men, will be an inspiration to anyone interested in building a more just society. The book is also a testament to the desperate need for labor law reforms to prevent companies from thwarting the union impulse.”
—Dan DiMaggio, assistant editor, Labor Notes

“Gay Semel’s The Cablevision War reads like a union organizing thriller, due in no small part to the nearly minute-by-minute accounting from the workers themselves of their fight for a just workplace. Her incisive analysis of the struggle against a most common villainy shines a light on workers’ collective commitment to each other as radically fertile ground from which positive change may grow. Spoiler alert: The workers won! CWA’s investment in rethinking tried-and-true organizing methodologies, coupled with staff expertise that centered each worker’s lived experience, served as the starting point for a win that was much bigger than any one individual. We consume history in leaps, but it is made in an endless number of steps—forward, backward, and sideways—toward a redistribution of power that we can collectively choose to root in equity. This book pays tribute to the people and the struggles that usually don't make it into the history books, but which nonetheless make history with every step. Bravo!”
—Susan DeCarava, president, The NewsGuild of New York

“Gay Semel has given her working life to the labor movement, and The Cablevision War distills a few of her most invaluable lessons. Winning a union election is hard. Winning a first contract and holding onto the union afterward is harder, and far less understood. This ambitious work of history fills that gap, documenting every tactic Cablevision used to break its Brooklyn workers and every tactic the workers and CWA used to hold their ground. Written with the pacing of a novel, the resulting story is class struggle in microcosm. Semel’s book is honest about the costs and risks of serious organizing, generous to the communications workers who bore them, and clear-eyed about what it takes to really win. Labor organizers and working-class partisans will be reading this book for decades to come.”
—Meagan Day, senior editor, Jacobin