Labor Board Complaining Over Cablevision’s Tactics

The battle between Cablevision and organized labor has dragged on for months, punctuated by protests and lawsuits, in a feud that has been particularly nasty even by most labor-management standards. Now the National Labor Relations Board has accused the company of acting illegally to avoid reaching an agreement with several hundred unionized cable installers in Brooklyn.

John J. Walsh, the acting director of the labor board’s regional office in Brooklyn, said that his office would issue a complaint against Cablevision, saying the company “has bargained with no intent to reach an agreement” — in what several workers said was a strategy to undermine support for their union, the Communications Workers of America. The fight has been particularly vitriolic and visible, not least because the family that controls Cablevision, the Dolans, also controls the Knicks and Rangers.