Communications Workers Urge Approval of Proposed Cingular-AT&T Wireless Merger

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Communications Workers of America today urged the Federal Communication Commission to approve the proposed merger of AT&T Wireless with Cingular Wireless, saying the merger will lead to improvements in service and accelerate the deployment of advanced third-generation (3G) service.

CWA represents 22,000 non-management employees at Cingular and 700,000 workers overall in telecommunications and other fields.

The union filing states:

"The proposed merger of AWS and Cingular will lead to many public interest benefits. The combined company will be able to improve the quality of existing voice and data services, expand Cingular's national facilities-based footprint, and accelerate the deployment of advanced third-generation (3-G) services on a national scale.

"Moreover, Cingular is a recognized leader among U.S. corporations for its high-performance human resources policies and progressive labor-management relations. Cingular management and CWA have established an industry-leading partnership designed to improve quality, productivity and employee satisfaction. CWA is confident that Cingular's positive human resource policies will carry over to the merged entity, with benefits to employees, communities and customers.

"In addition… the merger poses no harm to competition. The wireless market will continue to be highly competitive after the merger, with five strong providers in the national wireless market, plus additional strong regional and local companies."

The complete filing is available at CWA's website: ga.cwa-union.org.

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