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Two Districts Combat State Plans To Force Verizon Breakups
Nearly 300 members of CWA Locals 13000 and 13500 rallied on the steps of the Pennsylvania state capitol, Feb. 13, to protest a Public Utility Commission plan to make Verizon Pennsylvania split into two companies - for wholesale and retail operations - in the name of "competition." Afterward, they lobbied state lawmakers to bring pressure against the PUC's plan.
Two days later about 75 members in red shirts returned to Harrisburg carrying signs emblazoned "No Structural Separation" and packed a state House Appropriations Committee hearing on the PUC's budget.
"Every one of the state representatives (on the committee) told the commission they had problems with the plan, they were not in favor of it, and the PUC should look long and hard before trying to go forward," said Vince Maisano, CWA vice president for District 13. "On the face of it, the PUC plan is bad for workers and consumers."
Maisano said it would cost Verizon about $1 billion to implement the PUC's plan and that the company would have to pass the cost along to consumers.
"There are no consumers, nor consumer groups, out there yelling for this," said Maisano, who spoke at the rally. The only group pressuring the PUC to act is Citizens for Local Exchange Competition, "which is not really made up of citizens but of MCI WorldCom, Sprint and other carriers who want to keep the company so busy that it can't get into long distance."
He said the union is supporting an alternative plan by the company to separate its wholesale functions - maintaining infrastructure and selling access - from its retail function of selling phone lines to consumers. Verizon's own plan would not require separation into two companies.
Maisano said CWA members throughout District 13 are conducting a letter-writing campaign to let lawmakers know they are opposed to the PUC plan.
The federal Telecommunications Act of 1996 requires former Bell System companies to make lines and switches available to other companies that want to compete in local phone service, as a condition for allowing the Bell companies to offer long distance and other amenities under the umbrella of "universal service."
In 1999 the Pennsylvania PUC ordered the retail-wholesale split as part of a "global order" settling a number of universal service and related proceedings, and Verizon proposed to accomplish that end while keeping the company intact.
Elsewhere, Pete Catucci, CWA vice president for District 2, said Maryland Del. Joan Stern (D-39th), Montgomery County, recently introduced a bill in the Assembly to require structural separation in that state. The bill is H. 957, Telephone Companies/Structural Separation.
"We've taken a position against it, and the Maryland AFL-CIO has embraced that position," Catucci said. He was set to meet with Verizon Maryland's president as the CWA News went to press, to develop a strategy for lobbying against the bill. When H. 957 comes up for committee hearings, CWA will testify.
"We will kill the bill," said a determined Catucci.
Two days later about 75 members in red shirts returned to Harrisburg carrying signs emblazoned "No Structural Separation" and packed a state House Appropriations Committee hearing on the PUC's budget.
"Every one of the state representatives (on the committee) told the commission they had problems with the plan, they were not in favor of it, and the PUC should look long and hard before trying to go forward," said Vince Maisano, CWA vice president for District 13. "On the face of it, the PUC plan is bad for workers and consumers."
Maisano said it would cost Verizon about $1 billion to implement the PUC's plan and that the company would have to pass the cost along to consumers.
"There are no consumers, nor consumer groups, out there yelling for this," said Maisano, who spoke at the rally. The only group pressuring the PUC to act is Citizens for Local Exchange Competition, "which is not really made up of citizens but of MCI WorldCom, Sprint and other carriers who want to keep the company so busy that it can't get into long distance."
He said the union is supporting an alternative plan by the company to separate its wholesale functions - maintaining infrastructure and selling access - from its retail function of selling phone lines to consumers. Verizon's own plan would not require separation into two companies.
Maisano said CWA members throughout District 13 are conducting a letter-writing campaign to let lawmakers know they are opposed to the PUC plan.
The federal Telecommunications Act of 1996 requires former Bell System companies to make lines and switches available to other companies that want to compete in local phone service, as a condition for allowing the Bell companies to offer long distance and other amenities under the umbrella of "universal service."
In 1999 the Pennsylvania PUC ordered the retail-wholesale split as part of a "global order" settling a number of universal service and related proceedings, and Verizon proposed to accomplish that end while keeping the company intact.
Elsewhere, Pete Catucci, CWA vice president for District 2, said Maryland Del. Joan Stern (D-39th), Montgomery County, recently introduced a bill in the Assembly to require structural separation in that state. The bill is H. 957, Telephone Companies/Structural Separation.
"We've taken a position against it, and the Maryland AFL-CIO has embraced that position," Catucci said. He was set to meet with Verizon Maryland's president as the CWA News went to press, to develop a strategy for lobbying against the bill. When H. 957 comes up for committee hearings, CWA will testify.
"We will kill the bill," said a determined Catucci.