CWA Members Release New Report on Increased Risks of Verizon-Frontier deal in West Virginia

Wearing red union t-shirts and holding signs protesting landline sell-offs and job cuts, more than a fifty Verizon union members and retirees rallied on May 6 before the start of the company's annual meeting in Little Rock, AR.

CWA and IBEW union members greeted Verizon shareholders with a leaflet headlined, "Reputation Matters: Verizon is on the Wrong Track." Copies of the leaflet and statements by union leaders and retires at the shareholder meeting are available from Rand Wilson at: rand@mindspring.com.

Members traveled from all across the country to attend the meeting. CWA local unions sent members from Maryland, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia. IBEW locals sent members from Florida, Massachusetts and New Jersey.

After leafleting shareholders, members went inside to attend the annual meeting. They showed support for proposals to improve corporate governance and participated in the question and answer session at the end of the meeting with Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg.

CWA District Two VP Ron Collins spoke at length about the proposed sale of Verizon's landlines in West Virginia and 13 other states to Frontier Communications.

"Residents will be strapped with a company that has high debt and limited -- if any ability -- to fix its problems to provide quality service, let alone build out high speed networks," he said.

At the meeting, Collins announced the release of a new report: "Preventing a Telecom Disaster: New Information Concerning the Verizon-Frontier Deal that Will Determine the Future of Telecommunications in West Virginia." In the report, CWA experts make the case that especially in West Virginia the risks of the sale far outweigh any potential benefits.

"Frontier will be increasing its debt by 75 percent and it's in a shakier position now than when this deal was first proposed," Collins said. "If Verizon wants to sell its landlines, it should find a buyer that has the financial, technical and operational resources to meet West Virginia's needs."

Copies of the report are available here

The report was simultaneously released at the Public Service Commission in Charleston, WV by CWA Intl. Rep. Elaine Harris. "These new findings are of grave concern to West Virginia customers," said Harris. "If this deal is approved, Frontier will control 85 percent of our state's telephone lines. In the other states, that figure is only about eight percent."

CWA local union officers personally carried the research report to news media outlets across the state. As a result, it was extensively covered not only in the Charleston news media but in many smaller communities.

Pictures from the demonstration and report release can be seen on the Picasa photo sharing site.