Verizon’s East Coast President just sent out an e-mail to every employee in New York State warning about CWA-supported state legislation to strengthen consumer and worker protections in the event of a telecom merger or line sale. Verizon claims the legislation will “kill jobs” and stop “billions of dollars of investment.”
Surprise, surprise. They’re lying. Their message can mean only one thing: they want to sell in New York. They know that our legislation would prevent them from cutting jobs and investment – and boosting their profits at everyone else’s expense.
Don’t buy Verizon’s lies. Take action right now to protect workers and consumers.
Call Senator Thomas Duane at (518) 455-2451. Leave a message that you are a constituent and that you want bill S7263 to pass because it protects telephone workers and consumers.
CWA’s bill would prevent New York workers and consumers from suffering what New England went through after Verizon sold its network in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine to tiny FairPoint in 2008. Fifteen months after the sale, Fairpoint went bankrupt, thousands of customers experienced major service quality problems, and workers face severe cuts in future bargaining because Fairpoint is a small company loaded up with debt.
Verizon tried to sell Upstate in 2005 – and they are selling 14 states to Frontier right now. A sale of telephone access lines endangers our jobs and undermines good service, including through a bankruptcy that prevents new infrastructure investment.
S.7263/A.2208, the “merger and line sale bill” (“S” is the Senate bill # and “A” is the Assembly), passed the Assembly on July 1st 103-34 thanks to CWA members’ actions. The bill could come to the Senate floor for a vote any day – and we need to win that vote. Day after day, Verizon has had over a dozen high-priced lobbyists in Albany working furiously against it. If they’re working so hard against it, you know it must be a good thing!
The bill requires the New York State Public Service Commission to meet strengthened standards for worker and consumer protection if Verizon or Rochester Tel sell their lines or merge. Contrary to Verizon’s claims, if a sale occurs, this bill would help ensure infrastructure investment such as the fiber optic network (FiOS) build. It would ensure investment, not prevent it.
Instead of padding corporate profits, this bill helps protect our jobs and our customers. Please call your senator right now.