The New York state Assembly voted 87-23 on Friday in support of a bill that would establish a moratorium on telephone corporations on the replacement of landline telephone service with a wireless system. The moratorium would be in place until June 1, 2014.

The bill would not affect Verizon’s proposal to abandon its wireline service in the western portion of Fire Island that was damaged during Hurricane Sandy last year, and instead offer customers its Voice Link service, but would require a comprehensive review of the Fire Island project before Verizon is allowed to utilize the wireless service in other parts of the state.

The Public Service Commission last month conditionally approved Verizon’s proposal to replace its damaged wirelines with a wireless service, but said review is necessary before the company will be allowed to expand Voice Link to other parts of the state. The commission is accepting comment until July 2 on whether Verizon should be allowed to install Voice Link elsewhere (05/16/13).

According to AB 7635, which is sponsored by Assemblyman James Brennan (D., District 44), the one-year moratorium would allow the PSC sufficient time to review a report to be submitted by Verizon, Inc., and to issue its findings and conclusions on the report and on other related questions to the governor and Legislature. The bill would require the commission to issue, by April 1, 2014, its findings in response to Verizon’s report describing its actions and experiences of replacing landline telephones with a wireless alternative on Fire Island. Verizon is required to submit to the PSC by Nov. 1 a report regarding usage of Voice Link on Fire Island.

“It is the statutory duty and responsibility of the PSC to investigate and approve any actions taken by telephone corporations that impact the quality and adequacy of service,” according to the bill. “This bill will require PSC to investigate and report on the many complex issues raised by Verizon’s plans to replace landlines with wireless.”

The bill specifies that it would not prevent a telephone company from replacing a landline system with a wireless one for any customer who knowingly agrees to the replacement, or the PSC from approving the provision of wireless service in an emergency.

Stop the Cap! Learns Verizon Allegedly Trying to Sneak Wireless Voice Link Into the Catskills

On May 16th, the New York Public Service Commission held a hearing on Verizon’s attempt to abandon landlines in New York. Verizon attempted to amend its tariff so that the company could abandon copper wire in favor of a wireless alternative, called Voice Link. While Verizon focused on the west end of Fire Island, its amended tariff would have applied to all of New York State.

The PSC granted limited approval that will apply to Fire Island only, while they continue to review the issue and weigh public comment.

We cannot let Verizon successfully change the law in New York State that will do away with your work and do away with you!  We will be in Albany over the next month working to get laws passed to protect our work and your jobs!

Please handwrite a letter using the following text and give it to your chief steward as soon as possible.

<Date>

Dear Governor Cuomo and Commissioner Brown:

Verizon is currently deploying VoiceLink, a wireless-only substitute for traditional landline service. This work is already underway on the western part of Fire Island. But it is part of Verizon’s larger strategy to replace landline service with wireless in areas where there is no FiOS network, and to slash more jobs.

Replacing wireline service with VoiceLink will mean the loss of good-paying jobs for Verizon technicians, whose numbers have already been cut by more than half in the last seven years. We can’t afford to lose any more.

We urge you to stop Verizon from abandoning the copper network in non-FiOS areas and replacing it with VoiceLink. In addition to speeding up the loss of jobs for Verizon technicians, VoiceLink will endanger service quality and be a public safety hazard during a disaster.

We urge you to conduct a full investigation into the impact of these proposed changes. Do not let Verizon continue destroying good jobs. We urge you not to allow Verizon to deploy VoiceLink statewide.

Sincerely,

<Your name>

Verizon has declared a surplus in FAAs 1,2,3,4,5 & 6. This surplus has been determined by the Company to be due to a process change, not an external event. The provisions of FAP Articles 8(b) and 10 will not apply. CWA Local 1101 titles affected by the surplus appear in column marked FAA 1.

There are a total of 38 declared surplus in FAA 1. They are: 14 Administrative Assistant, 3 Drafter, 1 Engineering Drafter, 4 Facilities Specialist, 1 Office Assistant, 5 Senior Administrative Assistant, and 10 Special Assistant.

The EIPP packages will be distributed on June 6th. The election period will be until June 20th and the off payroll date will be June 30th.

The surplus numbers for the different FAAs affected are listed in the document below.

Click on surplus numbers to view PDF.