Cablevision Shareholders
Meeting Disrupted

Police were called in to remove protesting shareholders from Cablevision’s annual meeting May 23 after one accused CEO James Dolan of paying bribes and illegally firing 22 technicians in Brooklyn, N.Y. 

The protester, complaining about a labor dispute involving the company, was joined by at least four others by the time police arrived, according to Bloomberg News.  The shareholders are linked with the Communications Workers of America, which has the dispute with Cablevision before the National Labor Relations Board.

CWA represents Cablevision’s unionized employees and has been locked in contentious contract negotiations for more than a year. CWA accused Cablevision of illegally firing 22 workers for joining the union, and the protesters loudly demanded that Dolan pay union workers the same rate as nonunion employees, according to Bloomberg.

“I’m not making this meeting a meeting about the CWA,” Bloomberg quoted Dolan as saying. “That’s enough on that subject.  I’m going to ask you all to leave.  Do we have the police here? Please bring in the police. Please escort these people out.”

CWA released a statement explaining that shareholders allied with the union had “asked the company tough questions about the potential impact” of the suit, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The union also said it has “recently entered into closed-door negotiations with Cablevision to end the dispute.

A Cablevision spokeswoman told Bloomberg the disrupted meeting was “a shareholder meeting with a clear set of rules.

The CWA attempted to disrupt the meeting; they were asked to refrain and when they did not they were asked to leave.  The matter is now in the hands of the authorities.”