CWA Releases Broadband Report Card

Last week, CWA released its first-ever study on the public benefit of more than a dozen broadband projects around the country, all built using funding from the Biden-Harris Administration’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). The 14 county-level projects across 10 states were evaluated on union representation, use of a directly employed workforce, and other labor standards; measures of public transparency; and equity, including counties’ ability to drive additional funding from private companies to match ARPA funds and whether the projects offered and advertised a low-cost plan for low-income households.

A project from Kenton County, Ky., which sits outside of Cincinnati, earned the top ranking and a perfect score of 20 out of 20 points. CWA Local 4400 members at Cincinnati Bell’s Altifiber are leading the broadband build, and Local 4400 President Jason Ballman says that they are “proud to be setting a higher standard for broadband projects that are long-lasting and stimulating our local communities. As states prepare to receive billions in federal dollars from BEAD [the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program] to help close the digital divide, decision-makers need to ensure accountability from the companies they choose to work with, prioritizing transparency, equity, and the creation of good, local union jobs.” Kenton County officials’ decision to make the project agreement publicly available online and provide frequent updates on its status during public meetings also contributed to their high score.

In Beaver County, Pa., a suburb of Pittsburgh, a project contracted with Verizon also scored high, thanks to Verizon’s commitment to using their CWA Local 13000-represented workforce and to investing more than the county into the project. “At Local 13000 in Pennsylvania, we know what it means to build broadband the right way, and that starts with a highly-qualified local workforce. Thanks to Beaver County’s close collaboration with Verizon and their joint effort to prioritize union workers, we’ve been able to ensure that the federal dollars from ARPA are going towards a high-quality buildout,” said CWA Local 13000 President Jim Gardler in Pennsylvania. “We hope policymakers are taking note of our project and paying attention to what real accountability and integrity looks like and how this has translated into positives for us in Beaver County.”