Unions Commend Maine Regulators for Setting Hearing Date to Address Proposed Verizon-FairPoint Settl

Contact: Rand Wilson, 617-803-0799 and Candice Johnson, CWA Communciations, 202-434-1168 and cjohnson@cwa-union.org

Washington, D.C. -- The CWA and IBEW today commended the Maine Public Utilities Commission for setting a December 20 hearing date to determine whether and how to address the "partial, contested" settlement in the sale of Verizon Communications operations to FairPoint Communications.

The consequences of this deal for Maine residents are enormous and a rush to judgment would not have served the public interest, the unions said. 

CWA and the IBEW maintain that the proposed deal does not even come close to the recommendations made by the PUC's Hearing Examiner.  Even with the nearly half a billion dollars in concessions that the two companies sought to make, Maine residents still will be left with a financially risky company without sufficient resources to improve service quality and expand high speed broadband.  The amount of the concessions, though insufficient, shows that even the companies have been forced to recognize FairPoint's financial weakness and proves that they have been caught in their attempt to pull a fast one on the regulators in the three states.

The unions are pleased that the Commission has refused to be stampeded into a settlement. The unions hope that if the Commission decides to consider the settlement that it will hold evidentiary hearings to analyze the full implications of the proposed settlement.  For example, the proposed settlement will affect FairPoint's financial viability since it would increase the company's operating expenses and reduce its revenue which will adversely affect its profits and cash flow, among other issues, the unions said.

The CWA and IBEW continue to agree with the Hearing Examiner's November 26 recommendation that the sale should be rejected because it is not in the public interest. If the PUC disagrees with this recommendation, the Examiner also recommended that it should condition any approval on requirements that Verizon reduce FairPoint's debt by $600 million and reduce its Transition Services Agreement fees by approximately $130 million. Further, FairPoint should be required to reduce its dividends, increase capital expenditures and be subject to stronger service quality standards and penalties.