June 5, 2012

How Your Cable Bill Is Being Used To Deny Workers Paid Sick Leave

The Philadelphia Inquirer has a great article up which delves into the lobbying cash special interests are using to influence public policy in that city. Big Soda leads the lobbying pack, spending $238,921 in the quarter, six times the amount spent by the next competitor.

Interestingly, the article notes that cable giant Comcast spent $32,985 lobbying during this period, lobbying 15 council members against supporting mandatory paid sick leave for workers. This is the same city where a woman was fired after having to take a sick day to save her son’s life with a kidney donation.

Comcast is a huge political spender not only in Philadelphia, but nationwide. It has spent $2,371,041 lobbying the federal government in 2012 so far, and that’s just the spending that’s being reported. Comcast also spends big on public relations, donations to nonprofit advocacy organizations, and other forms of stealth lobbying that are not required to be reported.

And amazingly, this is all being done with the fees its users pay for cable and Internet service (or lack of service, if you’re one of many disgruntled Comcast customers).