FCC advisory committee’s One Touch Make Ready recommendation threatens public safety, good jobs

Communications Workers of America President Chris Shelton blasted the FCC’s Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee (BDAC) adopting a radical recommendation for “One Touch Make Ready” rules. One Touch Make Ready rules would mandate the use of contractors to move telephone company equipment to make room for new attachers' equipment. This work is currently performed by trained, skilled, career employees at AT&T, Verizon, Frontier, and other employers.

“The BDAC recommendation threatens public safety,” President Shelton said. “Mandating contractors rather than trained career employees to do this work can lead to dangerous conditions for the public, such as ungrounded wires and heavy terminals hanging without adequate support.”

“The BDAC recommendation also threatens the good middle-class jobs of thousands of workers across the country, and violates contracts negotiated by our union with our members' employers,” Shelton added. “CWA supports common sense proposals to streamline pole attachment work to facilitate broadband expansion consistent with protections for public and worker safety and respect for legally-binding collective bargaining agreements. The BDAC recommendation fails on both accounts. The FCC should reject the BDAC's radical One Touch Make Ready recommendation.”

The FCC formed the BDAC to offer guidance on broadband deployment. But instead of balancing the committee with different stakeholders to reflect the many interests of deployment, the FCC packed the committee with industry representatives. The committee so favored business interests that San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, representing the interests of cities and localities more broadly, resigned from the committee.  

"It has become abundantly clear that despite the good intentions of several participants, the industry-heavy makeup of [the committee] will simply relegate the body to being a vehicle for advancing the interests of the telecommunications industry over those of the public,” Liccardo wrote in his resignation letter.

Links:

FCC's Broadband Advisory Committee’s One Touch Make Ready Recommendation Threatens Public Safety and Good Jobs (CWA, Jan. 25, 2018)

San Jose mayor resigns from FCC advisory panel (The Hill, Jan. 25, 2018)