Message to the Governor: “Don’t let New Hampshire take a wrong turn on the information superhighway!”
Concord, NH -- Showing the growing opposition to the proposed sale of Verizon to FairPoint Communications, a delegation delivered more than five thousand post cards in a wheelbarrow to a representative of Governor Lynch on October 30 asking him to oppose the sale.
The group was composed of representatives from first responders, small business, civic groups, teachers, and telephone workers -- all of whom want to make sure that Governor Lynch gets the message: Stop the Sale!
The post cards ask the Governor to “take a strong stand against allowing Verizon to sell its assets to FairPoint.” They were delivered to Senate President Sylvia Larsen who was designated by Governor Lynch to receive the post cards.
“New Hampshire’s economy depends on our success in requiring the highest quality telecommunications network for our citizens and our businesses,” said Larsen. “We join you in dedicating ourselves to that future.”
Participants in the delegation held a short briefing in the Lobby of the Legislative Office Building just prior to delivering the cards. State Senators Jacalyn Cilley, Martha Fuller Clark, Harold Janeway and Deborah Reynolds, many state representatives and Portsmouth Mayor Steve Marchand also participated.
“If this sale is approved it could send New Hampshire and its economy backwards,” said Mark MacKenzie, President of the New Hampshire AFL-CIO. “Cutting edge technology is essential to keeping good paying jobs in the state. FairPoint has not demonstrated it has the resources or the technology to keep pace with today’s world.”
“When seconds count, New Hampshire citizens depend on firefighters and paramedics,” said David Lang, President of the Professional Fire Fighters of New Hampshire. “In order to assess the risk of any emergency, we need reliable information. We depend upon a high quality ‘information superhighway’ to obtain it. The proposed FairPoint acquisition of Verizon’s Northern New England properties poses risks that your firefighters do not want to take. We would prefer that ‘Can you hear me now?’ remain a catchy slogan on television -- not a way of life for the people of New Hampshire.”
“As a small business person and retailer, I depend on the overall health of New Hampshire’s economy,” said Jason Howard, owner of Ross Furniture. “I don’t want state regulators to approve something that could put our state’s future economic development at risk.” Howard has been in the furniture business for 34 years in Dover.
“For generations the motto of the phone company was ‘the only thing we have to sell is our service.’ Despite many changes over the years, Verizon has lived up to that motto and it seems to me that Verizon is far superior to any alternative that we can see in the future,” said Representative James Pilliod from Belmont, NH.
“Verizon is the second largest telecommunications company in the U.S.,” said Jaime Contois from Working Families Win, a statewide organization based in Keene that works to empower citizens to hold elected officials more accountable on economic security issues. “It’s the responsibility of our government and industry regulators to hold it accountable and to do what’s right for the citizens of New Hampshire.”
“Our canvassers went door-to-door to collect many of these post cards,” said Karen Nussbaum, Executive Director of Working America, an AFL-CIO affiliate that organizes working families to fight for good jobs, affordable health care and secure retirements. “The majority of households still hadn’t heard about the proposed sale, but when they did, people understood how risky FairPoint could be and were eager to sign.”
Photos from the post card event may be viewed at: http://picasaweb.google.com/randwilson.aflcio/NewHampshireStopTheSalePostCardEvent
More information about why citizens are mobilizing to stop the Verizon sale to FairPoint is at: www.stopthesalenow.org and www.no-deal.org. For information about ending the digital divide visit: www.speedmatters.org.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Friday, October 19, 2007
Labor intervenors sum up concerns about Verizon - FairPoint deal in brief to VT Public Service Board
Unions’ brief rejects possible PSB imposed “conditions” on the sale
The two labor intervenors in the regulatory oversight of the proposed sale of Verizon’s landlines submitted their direct brief to the Vermont Public Service Board concluding that based on FairPoint’s own financial projections, “[It] does not have the financial resources to provide safe and reliable service to Vermont’s consumers.”
The Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) are labor intervenors with regulators in all three Northern New England states and the FCC. The brief was submitted on October 17.
The intervenors were also highly critical of FairPoint’s assumption that through attrition it will lose between 4 and 4.5 percent of its workforce each year beginning in 2009, thus losing about 700 employees within five years. “FairPoint assumes it will be able to provide extensive new network and customer service functions, maintain the physical network, and fulfill its myriad promises, with fewer people than Verizon Northern New England has today.”
The 54 page brief also warned that “FairPoint’s ability to achieve acceptable service quality performance will be impaired by a lack of adequate resources, the potential loss of experienced workers, and the significant risks posed by FairPoint’s creation and implementation of dozens of new operational, support and administrative systems.”
The unions, “[S]trongly recommend that the Board reject the proposed transaction...” The intervenors argue that, “The deficiencies with FairPoint are too pervasive to be cured through the Board’s usual practice of imposing conditions. Conditions cannot make FairPoint financially viable. Conditions cannot give FairPoint the resources necessary to provide reliable service to customers. Conditions cannot fully protect the public against the likely adverse consequences of allowing FairPoint to own and operate Verizon Vermont.”
The unions stated that rejecting the deal would send “a very significant message to Verizon.” First, if Verizon still wants to sell its operations “it would have to find a buyer that would actually have the requisite financial resources, the operational resources and capacity and experience needed to provide reliable service.” Second, if Verizon chooses to retain the business it would have to “change its operating plan and focus more on service quality.”
In their brief, the unions reach the following conclusion, “the best way for the Board to protect the public is to reject the proposed transaction. FairPoint does not have the resources or expertise to step into Verizon’s shoes. There is no set of conditions that would make this transaction consistent with the public good.”
Copies of the Labor Intervenors’ brief are available from Rand Wilson by email to rand mindspring.com. More information about the campaign to Stop the Sale is on www.stop-the-sale.org and www.no-deal.org.
The two labor intervenors in the regulatory oversight of the proposed sale of Verizon’s landlines submitted their direct brief to the Vermont Public Service Board concluding that based on FairPoint’s own financial projections, “[It] does not have the financial resources to provide safe and reliable service to Vermont’s consumers.”
The Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) are labor intervenors with regulators in all three Northern New England states and the FCC. The brief was submitted on October 17.
The intervenors were also highly critical of FairPoint’s assumption that through attrition it will lose between 4 and 4.5 percent of its workforce each year beginning in 2009, thus losing about 700 employees within five years. “FairPoint assumes it will be able to provide extensive new network and customer service functions, maintain the physical network, and fulfill its myriad promises, with fewer people than Verizon Northern New England has today.”
The 54 page brief also warned that “FairPoint’s ability to achieve acceptable service quality performance will be impaired by a lack of adequate resources, the potential loss of experienced workers, and the significant risks posed by FairPoint’s creation and implementation of dozens of new operational, support and administrative systems.”
The unions, “[S]trongly recommend that the Board reject the proposed transaction...” The intervenors argue that, “The deficiencies with FairPoint are too pervasive to be cured through the Board’s usual practice of imposing conditions. Conditions cannot make FairPoint financially viable. Conditions cannot give FairPoint the resources necessary to provide reliable service to customers. Conditions cannot fully protect the public against the likely adverse consequences of allowing FairPoint to own and operate Verizon Vermont.”
The unions stated that rejecting the deal would send “a very significant message to Verizon.” First, if Verizon still wants to sell its operations “it would have to find a buyer that would actually have the requisite financial resources, the operational resources and capacity and experience needed to provide reliable service.” Second, if Verizon chooses to retain the business it would have to “change its operating plan and focus more on service quality.”
In their brief, the unions reach the following conclusion, “the best way for the Board to protect the public is to reject the proposed transaction. FairPoint does not have the resources or expertise to step into Verizon’s shoes. There is no set of conditions that would make this transaction consistent with the public good.”
Copies of the Labor Intervenors’ brief are available from Rand Wilson by email to rand
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