CWA: FCC Makes Wrong Decision on AT&T/T-Mobile Merger

The Communications Workers of America today denounced FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s opposition to the AT&T/T-Mobile merger. Genachowski said he would “refer the proposed merger to an administrative law judge for a trial-like hearing in which AT&T would be required to show that the deal was ‘in the public interest’.”

CWA responded that “The action by the Federal Communications Commission on the AT&T/T-Mobile merger is a job killer at a time of 9 percent unemployment.”

CWA backs the merger because:

“Our T-Mobile members know that the path to secure jobs is through massive investment in a 4-G LTE network across America.  T-Mobile management has clearly stated that the company doesn’t have the scale to justify that investment.  

“AT&T has promised to retain 23,000 call center, retail and technical workers who now have no clear employment path. Additionally, AT&T has committed to return 5,000 jobs to the U.S. from Asia and invest $8 billion in new capital and broadband buildout.”

According to The New York Times, “Larry Solomon, senior vice president for corporate communications at AT&T, called the F.C.C.’s action ‘disappointing’, and said ‘It is yet another example of a government agency acting to prevent billions in new investment and the creation of many thousands of new jobs at a time when the U.S. economy desperately needs both’.”

As CWA concluded, “The FCC’s decision relegates the issue of good jobs to the bottom of the government’s priorities.”

F.C.C. Seeks Review of AT&T Merger With T-Mobile (New York Times, Nov. 23, 2011)