Blog » 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.”

Links:

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

Category: Economic Growth & Quality Jobs, High Speed, FCC