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AT&T/T-Mobile Merger Will Create New Jobs, Provide Real Guarantees for Workers

Sprint, Public Knowledge Can’t Defend Sprint’s Outsourcing and Anti-Worker Record

Washington, D.C. – A new analysis by the Communications Workers of America confirms that the AT&T/T-Mobile merger will bring back 5,000 net quality jobs from overseas and create as many as 96,000 additional quality jobs in the buildout of high speed wireless broadband to 97 percent of the population. The report will be filed today with the Federal Communications Commission. Read the full report at http://cwa-union.org/att-tmo-real-story.

Opponents of the merger have used inaccurate and false comparisons in their jobs numbers, the report found. Opponents include Sprint, which made a failed bid to buy T-Mobile, Public Knowledge, and others. The claim that the merger will eliminate jobs stems from a faulty and convoluted analysis of wireline and wireless employment characterized by “sloppy research and the inability to distinguish between the change in the number of wireline and wireless jobs” in a Sprint-commissioned study, CWA said.

Instead, the CWA report said, the merger will create up to 96,000 new jobs based on AT&T’s commitment to build out high speed wireless broadband to 97 percent of the population, and AT&T’s commitment to bring back a net 5,000 quality wireless jobs to the United States.

AT&T also has made additional specific commitments to protect non-management workers:

  • No call center worker employed at either AT&T Mobility or T-Mobile at the time of the merger will lose their jobs because of the merger.
  • Job offer guarantees will be provided for all T-Mobile non-management workers whose jobs are affected by the merger.

CWA has a long history of negotiating and enforcing such commitments with AT&T, including following the company’s acquisition of Centennial and Dobson, and with the Cingular - AT&T Wireless merger. “The process used a combination of attrition and lateral transfers to nearby locations to secure jobs for current employees,” the report noted, adding that CWA has experience negotiating and enforcing such commitments with AT&T and that they have proven to be effective.

“The AT&T/T-Mobile merger will create, save or retain more U.S. jobs than a stand-alone T-Mobile which is already on a downward spiral…A Sprint/T-Mobile merger would have been a disaster in terms of technology and finances, and would led to a decline in U.S. jobs,” since Sprint outsources its network management and up to 70 percent of customer contact work.

Other benefits to the AT&T/T-Mobile merger:

  • It will accelerate the buildout of high-speed wireless broadband to 97 percent of the population, enabling an additional 55 million people, especially in rural and underserved areas, to share in the benefits of Internet technology.
  • AT&T will develop T-Mobile’s assets and offer T-Mobile customers the latest in technology.
  • AT&T and T-Mobile utilize compatible technologies.
  • AT&T has a demonstrated commitment to workers’ rights, supporting management neutrality that enables workers to make a free and fair choice about union representation and bargaining rights.