The CWA files a Petition to Deny seeking to stop the FCC from approving T-Mobile’s latest deal
The CWA says that allowing T-Mobile to buy UScellular will result in less competition and higher prices for consumers. | Image credit-UScellular
The CWA represents a large number of telecom employees including those who work in wireless retail stores. The labor union has made comments stating that a T-Mobile acquisition of UScellular would reduce competition in certain markets covered by UScellular and hurt consumers, workers, and other rural carriers. Consumers would face higher prices if competition is reduced in certain markets.
Not only would the transaction result in UScellular ceasing to exist as a possible option for consumers seeking wireless service, rural carriers that purchase wireless service from UScellular to resell to consumers will be affected by the transaction. These MVNOs (Mobile Virtual Network Operators) might not be able to buy wireless service wholesale from T-Mobile reducing the competition that these wireless providers offer in certain areas.
In the petition, the CWA states that T-Mobile and UScellular have yet to prove how the transaction would improve competition in multiple markets; this is important especially since T-Mobile already wields market power over industry workers. If the deal is approved, the CWA says that retail workers won’t be able to fight back against T-Mobile.
“Just four years ago, T-Mobile secured immense market power when it acquired Sprint by making false promises about job creation and preserving competition. Instead, the company cut jobs, suppressed wages, and left workers afraid to speak out. Now, T-Mobile wants to continue its takeover of the industry by purchasing UScellular. We have seen what mergers of this scale can mean for workers if they can’t protect themselves through union representation, and it’s not good. It’s up to regulators to require strong, enforceable conditions to ensure that workers and consumers don’t take a back seat to corporate profits. If not, we will see an industry-wide race to the bottom.- Claude Cummings Jr., CWA President
The CWA says that the FCC should not approve the T-Mobile acquisition of UScellular without “clear and enforceable commitments by the Applicants to protect retail wireless workers generally and in the affected local markets where T-Mobile and UScellular operate.” The CWA also wants the FCC to take into consideration issues that rural wireless carriers have with the acquisition.
Here is a list of steps that the union wants the FCC to take before deciding whether to approve the transaction
The union suggests that the FCC take the following steps when deciding whether to approve the purchase:
- Ensure that the transaction does not cause a reduction in U.S. employment and that no employee of T-Mobile or UScellular loses a job because of this transaction.
- Complete neutrality in allowing employees to form a union of their choosing, free from any interference by the employer.
- No degradation of pay/benefits for five years post-merger.
- Additional measures to protect competition in labor markets.
- Extending other rural carriers’ roaming agreements with UScellular under the same terms.
T-Mobile‘s previous purchase of Sprint is used by the CWA as an example of what could happen if the FCC approves T-Mobile‘s purchase of UScellular. The acquisition of Sprint by T-Mobile resulted in the heightened ability of the combined company to cut or freeze wages, lower growth in wages, reduce benefits and worsen working conditions.
Neither T-Mobile nor UScellular is unionized which means workers will have no negotiating power. The union says that this will not be good for workers as it calls T-Mobile one of the worst labor law violators in the country. The CWA adds that the company “has a long history of preventing workers from engaging in protected concerted activity, adding an additional hurdle for retail wireless workers at a combined T-Mobile/UScellular.”