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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