CWA testifies to Vermont board on Verizon-FairPoint deal

In a hearing yesterday before the Vermont Public Service Board, representatives from the CWA and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers urged the Board to deny Verizon's proposed sale of 1.6 million Northern New England land lines to FairPoint Communications.

Kenneth Peres, an economist for the CWA, said the deal would leave consumers worse off:

[I]f Verizon wanted to, it has the resources to improve service quality. Even if FairPoint wanted to improve service quality, it would be very difficult to achieve given its limited and strained resources.

Randy Barber, president of the Center for Economic Organizing, explained further:

FairPoint's approach to business is to invest as little as possible in capital plant and siphon the rest of the cash out of the operating companies to support its extraordinarily high dividend payment.

You can read the full testimony from Peres here and from Barber here.

Unions Urge Vermont Public Service Board to Deny Verizon-FairPoint Transaction (Press Release)

Testimony of CWA economist Kenneth Peres

Testimony of Center for Economic Organizing President Randy Barber