CWAers Out in Force at VZ Annual Meeting

CWA and IBEW members leafleted shareholders outside the Verizon annual meeting in Little Rock, stressing that Verizon risks damaging its corporate reputation by looking to use a tax loophole to sell off landlines and backing away from the build-out of high speed broadband.

CWA District 2 Vice President Ron Collins took that message to shareholders and executives inside the meeting too. "Verizon's been down this road a few times already, and the results haven't been good, not for workers, communities or quality service. Hawaiian Telecom, which bought Verizon lines – bankrupt. FairPoint, which bought lines in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont – bankrupt. In both those cases, workers lost jobs and customers and communities lost service and high speed broadband access." 

Collins said Verizon should continue to build out high speed broadband networks as the FCC's national broadband plan outlined, with a focus on service to anchor institutions like schools, hospitals and libraries.

Without high-speed broadband, citizens have no access to critical applications in telemedicine, distance learning, public safety, along with entertainment and other video. Verizon should continue to be a leader in bringing high speed networks to our communities, not abandoning them, he said.  

CWA also released a new report on the Verizon-Frontier deal and how it will harm West Virginia. In "Preventing a Telecom Disaster," CWA and telecom experts point out that for West Virginia and the 13 other states involved in this deal, the risks of the deal far outweigh the potential benefits.

Frontier's debt will increase by 75 percent; that company already is in a shakier position than when this deal was first proposed, the report notes.

If Verizon wants to sell its landlines, it should find a buyer that has the financial, technical and operational resources to meet West Virginia's needs, Collins stressed.