CHARLESTON -- Wearing red shirts reading “Good for Wall $treet; Bad for WV,” as many as 100 union members and their families gathered at the state Culture Center Jan. 10 to protest the proposed acquisition of Verizon’s landlines by Frontier Communications.
Joining them were some of the state’s top union leaders – including Cecil Roberts, president of the United Mine Workers – and elected leaders. Gov. Joe Manchin and State Attorney General Darrell McGraw were on hand, although neither joined the speakers in criticizing the deal.
The same couldn’t be said for some members of the state Legislature, who told the crowd the deal would be bad for West Virginia.
“My greatest fear is with Frontier declaring bankruptcy after the sale,” Sen. Jack Yost, D-Brooke, said. “This action will set a tidal wave crashing into the hills and valleys of our state.”
Verizon announced May 13 it would sell approximately 4.8 million access lines to Frontier in 14 states, including those in West Virginia. The $8.6 billion all-stock transaction would allow Verizon to get out of the landline business in the state and let Frontier expand its operations.
However, the union representing many employees in both companies, the Communications Workers of America, pointed out that similar transactions in Hawaii and the New England states led to company bankruptcies and service problems for customers. The union wants the PSC to say no to the deal. The Jan 10. rally, which was organized by the CWA, came only two days before PSC was scheduled to start public hearings on the proposed transaction. The 100 CWA members were joined by representatives of other local unions, particularly Teamsters Local 175.
Speakers painted the companies as being run by the same type of Wall Street mentality they blamed for creating the nation’s current economic climate. They had a Vermont firefighter talk about 911 disruptions after Verizon sold its landlines there. They also said that if Frontier was forced to declare bankruptcy, a bankruptcy judge could essentially rewrite negotiated contracts.
“This deal is bad for West Virginia, this deal is bad for our communities, this deal is bad for the state of the economy and this deal is bad for workers,” CWA President Ron Collins said. “That’s why we say ‘No deal to a bad deal.’”
None of the arguments were new to spokesmen from both companies contacted after the rally. They said the situation in West Virginia was in no way similar to what happened in New England, which involved a company called Fairpoint Communications.
“I think the only thing we have similar to Fairpoint is the f in our names,” Frontier spokesman Steve Crosby said.
Fairpoint was a start-up company at the time it acquired Verizon’s landlines. Frontier already is established and has a large presence in West Virginia.
Crosby said the company would make no changes to its employment base for at least the first 18 months after the transaction. He said there might be some cuts in corporate overhead, but those will involve non-union employees.
Company representatives also said Frontier will: • Increase broadband availability in the acquired areas to Frontier’s current 92 percent availability. • Focus on the rural to small and medium-sized areas that comprise the Mountain State. • Establish its Southeast region headquarters in Charleston, adding 30-40 new jobs.
As far as the elected officials at the rally, Verizon spokesman Harry Mitchell didn’t see that as meaning as the companies wouldn’t get fair hearings before the PSC.
“Certainly, (PSC commissioners) are getting a lot of input from a lot of quarters, and those are the guys who are going to make the decisions,” he said.
