AT&T/T-Mobile Merger Opponents Mislead With Job Loss Scare

A new analysis by CWA finds that opponents of the proposed AT&T/T-Mobile merger have misled the public with "inaccurate and false comparisons in their jobs numbers" to claim that the merger will result in a loss of jobs.

Instead, The AT&T/T-Mobile Merger And Jobs: The Real Story concludes that in fact "The merger will create up to 96,000 new jobs related to increased capital investment and an additional 5,000 jobs will be brought back to the U.S. from overseas."

Arguments against the merger are simply wrong. "There is no empirical evidence," says the report, "to support the opponents' contention that there were significant total wireless job cuts at AT&T Mobility as a result of past mergers."

Moreover, opponents have offered arguments without context, as if scuttling the AT&T merger would result in an ideal company with stable employment and prices. But T-Mobile will be wither sold or dismantled, and, says the report, "The AT&T/T-Mobile merger would add, save or retain more U.S. jobs than either of the other two major options available to T-Mobile's parent company, Deutsche Telekom."

Both CWA and Speed Matters believe that the merger will be good for both consumers and workers. It will save the company and will offer to more workers the chance for jobs at decent wages, with a chance of union representation.

The AT&T/T-Mobile Merger And Jobs: The Real Story (CWA paper, Nov., 2011)