FairPoint Shareholders Urgerd to Reject Verizon Deal

At the FairPoint Communications annual meeting in Charlotte, N.C., CWA and the IBEW called on shareholders to reject a proposed deal with Verizon, alerting shareholders that they could end up "holding a costly bag" of customer complaints, antiquated equipment and potentially expensive findings by state regulators.

Verizon is seeking to sell its telephone access lines in Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire to FairPoint. Coalitions of consumers, workers, elected officials and others in all three states are opposing the deal because of concerns that FairPoint will not be able to improve service quality or build out high speed Internet access to residents.

CWA District 1 Vice President Chris Shelton said, "FairPoint shareholders should vote no" or realize that they will be left holding a bag full of customer complaints and employee problems. "Cash flow from these access lines will have to be plowed back into network upgrades in order to satisfy regulators and customers who are demanding improved service quality. Management's projected profit windfall from this deal is an illusion," he noted.