CWA Urges State Regulators to Take Action on Service Quality at Frontier Communications

State regulators in several states are investigating service quality issues at Frontier Communications. CWAers have been calling on Frontier to invest in its network and workforce to improve service quality.

Last week, CWA urged the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO), which is investigating customer complaints against Frontier, to address the company's refusal to recall dozens of trained and experienced Ohio technicians, who are currently laid off, to make much-needed repairs. Since Frontier's acquisition of Ohio landlines from Verizon in 2010, Frontier has cut its CWA-represented workforce by 70 percent, meaning fewer resources for maintenance, repairs, and customer service. 

"We believe paying to import technicians from outside the state to perform ineffectively, instead of employing local technicians who are already familiar with the network, shortchanges customers and Ohio communities and puts them at risk," said eight CWA local presidents in a letter to PUCO. "We believe Frontier needs to invest in its local workforce to ensure the long-term viability of our network and connectedness of our community."

Also last week, the Minnesota Department of Commerce and Frontier reached a settlement that requires Frontier to issue refunds to aggrieved customers and establishes a framework for dealing with future service quality issues and maintenance breakdowns. CWA Local 7270 President Mark Doffing spoke at a Minnesota Public Utilities Commission hearing last October highlighting how Frontier has left the community behind through a lack of investment in their local workforce.