Lobbyist works both sides in the Spectrum strike
NAFTA FUTURE AT STAKE
co couldn’t enter the U.S. without a tariff unless 50% of it includes American-made content,” said Wilson (photo inset). “That to Mexico doesn’t sound like a free trade agreement, it sounds like protectionism.”
Canada and Mexico also want their companies to be able to bid on more U.S. federal and state government contracts, but this is at odds with Trump’s “Buy American” agenda.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce — which is a strong supporter of keeping NAFTA — says some of Trump’s demands are “poison pill proposals” that could torpedo the talks.
Labor leaders in the U.S. have made it clear they are supportive of a NAFTA overhaul — but only if it helps eliminate the wage gap with Mexico and includes Canada’s long-shot demands for labor reform. United Auto Workers President Dennis Williams said last week that negotiators must realize that NAFTA “has failed working people in all three countries.” Renegotiations will only be successful if the “crippling” auto trade deficit with Mexico is addressed, he said. Like many labor leaders who have blamed NAFTA for America’s disappearing manufacturing sector, Williams said there were “thousands” of U.S. jobs lost to Mexico.
“In 1993, the U.S. had an automotive trade deficit with Mexico of $3.5 billion. By 2016 ,that deficit had grown to $45.1 billion. For auto parts, the U.S. deficit with Mexico was $100 million in 1993; it was 200 times larger by 2016, at $23.8 billion,” Williams said.
At the same time, the average wage for a Mexican auto worker has stayed at $3 an hour, he added.
“Mexican workers are not to blame for NAFTA’s failures . . . . If multinational corporations remain in the driver’s seat, NAFTA renegotiations will not succeed and working people will continue to suffer. We cannot let that happen,” he said. ONE OF THE CITY’S most influential lobbying firms is playing both sides of the street in the Spectrum strike.
The low-profile but high-powered MirRam Group — with close ties to major players in City Hall who support the striking workers — is a registered lobbyist for Charter Communications, state records show.
Charter, which owns cable giant Spectrum, is embroiled in a grim labor battle with 1,800 members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. The IBEW Local 3 members have been without a paycheck for seven months now and soon will lose unemployment benefits.
The techs went on strike March 28 over Charter’s demands to give up their health care and pension funds during contract negotiations.
Even as MirRam has signed on as a lobbyist for Charter, it’s been a political consultant to three of the most outspoken critics of the company’s position in the labor dispute: Mayor de Blasio, City Council Speaker Melissa MarkViverito and Public Advocate Letitia James.
James, who hired MirRam in 2013 as a consultant, wrote a letter to Charter CEO Tom Rutledge on April 4, calling on him to abandon his “unconscionable” demands and settle on a contract. De Blasio, who tapped MirRam in April to consult on his reelection bid, repeatedly urged Charter to settle its issues and called Rutledge to push for a deal.
Mark-Viverito, who has longstanding ties to MirRam managing partner Luis Miranda, also sent letters to Charter honchos stressing the need to resolve the dispute, and she attended strike relief events.
All three pols marched across the Brooklyn Bridge with Local 3 strikers last month. They declined to comment on MirRam’s dual roles. But all three reiterated their full support for the strikers when contacted by the Daily News. A spokesman for MirRam Group said the organization doesn’t comment on its clients.
Public records show that the firm — founded by Miranda, who is father to Broadway star LinManuel Miranda — earned $60,000 this spring and again last fall as a Charter lobbyist. It also took in $30,000 in the spring of 2016 from Time Warner Cable, just before it was bought by Charter and added to the Spectrum brand.
The terms of the contract, signed by Miranda himself, call on MirRam Group to promote Charter and its interests with “key public officials” on the city and state level. This includes monitoring legislative developments that could affect Charter and developing messaging to “promote Charter’s public policy interests,” the agreement said. It also says that MirRam Group can’t “represent other clients on matters adverse to or in conflict with” its stated goals.
In charitable circles, Luis Miranda is known as a strong supporter of Hispanic causes, with a special affection for Puerto Rico, where he was born.
Chris Erikson, business manager for Local 3, said many of the striking workers fighting to save their health care and pensions are Hispanic. “Approximately 82% of the membership is African-American and Hispanic, and thousands are Puerto Rican,” he said.
IBEW currently has almost 30 electricians in Puerto Rico, volunteers who are laboring to bring power back to the hurricane-ravaged island, Erikson added.