T-Mobile Sprint merger will eliminate thousands of California jobs, union says

18 October 2018 by Steve Blum
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The Communications Workers of America (CWA), which is the largest telecoms union in California, asked to join the California Public Utilities Commission’s inquiry into T-Mobile’s proposed takeover of Sprint yesterday. In its “motion for party status”, CWA said it represents wireless industry workers at AT&T and “as members of T-Mobile Workers United, an organisation of T-Mobile and MetroPCS employees”.

Many could lose their jobs, according to the union’s motion…

The T-Mobile/Sprint merger will have a significant impact on CWA members, both as workers in the industry and as consumers of wireless services. CWA’s research shows that the merger will result in the loss of 3,185 retail jobs in California due to store closures and consolidation. In addition, the proposed transaction could increase concentration in the wireless industry labor market with negative impact on industry-wide wages…

CWA District 9 intends to actively participate in this proceeding.

It’ll be up to the CPUC administrative law judge handling the case to decide whether CWA can jump into the proceeding at this point, but such requests are typically granted. The commissioner in charge, Clifford Rechtschaffen, didn’t call out employment issues as a particular focus of the inquiry in the “scoping memo” he issued a couple of weeks ago, but he also stated that the list was “non-exhaustive”.

Reviewing labor implications would be completely consistent with past practice and California’s public utility law, which directs that utility mergers must “be fair and reasonable to affected public utility employees, including both union and nonunion employees”. It’s not 100% clear whether the T-Mobile Sprint transaction is big enough to require that kind of review, but there’s little doubt the CPUC can choose to do so.

Two other groups that are protesting the merger – TURN and the Greenlining Institute – also filed paperwork, saying they expect to ask to be compensated by the companies for their efforts, as California law also allows. They estimate that they’ll run up a combined bill of $152,000.