Telecom unions attacked the Illinois Commerce Commission decision to approve...
Telecom unions attacked the Illinois Commerce Commission decision to approve sale of Verizon’s landline operations in Illinois to Frontier Communications. The approval, announced Wednesday (CD April 23 p11), “could fail to protect the public interest and may jeopardize future access…
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to high speed services,” the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and Communications Workers of America said Thursday. “The decision flies in the face of a very strong recommendation to deny the sale made by Illinois Administrative Law Judge Lisa M. Tapia,” the unions said in a release. Tapia recommended March 9 against approval. “We have been concerned from the beginning about the impact of this proposed merger on Frontier’s financial stability given the enormous debt that it would incur,” said Ron Kastner, business manager of Local 21, the largest IBEW telecom unit in Illinois. Only the West Virginia Public Service Commission and the FCC could still bar the deal, the unions said. Ron Collins, vice president of CWA District Two, a leader in the campaign against the sale in West Virginia, said: “We are not stopping our fight against this deal. … Because of Frontier’s financial weakness, the entire state of West Virginia would be affected if this deal were to close."