The customer service and warehouse workers at Comcast Corp.’s Merrillville’s office voted Wednesday to decertify from the IBEW union.
Jerry Rankins, business representative for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 21, said 24 of the 25 eligible workers voted, with 15 voting to decertify and nine voting to remain with the union.

Rankins said the decertification is the result of disparity of wages that Comcast pays its union and non-union workers. He also said the IBEW may file a challenge to the election with the National Labor Relations Board because of perceived irregularities to the behavior of Comcast in respect to election.
“It’s part of Comcast’s national strategy to get rid of unions,” he said. “They (Comcast workers) hope to get a raise in pay now that they’re non-union. With the price of gas, they are all facing economic struggles. They wanted to stay union, but their financial circumstances dictated they had to make a tough decision.”