Union, Consumer Alliance Puts Brakes on NJ Telecom Deregulation

A coalition of New Jersey CWA members, the AARP, Citizen Action, the League of Municipalities and other groups has succeeded in scuttling, for now, a telecom deregulation bill that would have hurt consumers, workers and quality telephone service.

"We've won a round, but the fight's not over," said District 1 Legislative/Political Director Bob Master. "We expect an amended version of the bill to be pushed later in April, and we'll be doing battle again."

Backed by Verizon and other major cable and telephone companies, the bill would have removed virtually all public supervision over the industry. Members of the state Senate sent the bill back to committee last week after facing certain defeat. The measure had been expected to pass and be signed into law by Gov. Chris Christie.

CWA argued that deregulation makes it too easy for companies to dump less profitable parts of their business onto smaller companies that are unable to maintain or provide quality service. Verizon's past spin-offs of landline infrastructure to Hawaiian Telecom, FairPoint and Frontier led to bankruptcy.

The coalition’s mass letter-writing and phone-calling campaign demonstrated how strong alliances can overcome the spending advantage enjoyed by corporate interests.

The coalition will be called on again, as the fight over telecom deregulation in New Jersey is by no means over. CWA fully expects the industry to regroup for another battle.