WASHINGTON-Telecom mergers, traditionally seen as threatening by organized labor, have become major platforms for unions and civil-rights groups to push their agendas and try to leverage concessions.
As the Communications Workers of America and Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow/Push Coalition weigh in on telecom mega mergers, wireless holdings have become a bargaining chip in the negotiating equation.
SBC Communications Inc., facing intense antitrust scrutiny over its proposed $62 billion merger with Ameritech Corp., removed one potential obstacle by striking a deal with CWA that keeps management from interfering with voluntary unionization of wireless workers and others in high-growth sectors.
“We have the whole industry [wireless] targeted,” said Danny Fetonte, CWA organizer for the southwestern United States.
Likewise, AT&T Corp., which courted SBC before it was shooed away by government regulators, struck a similar pact giving its wireless workers freedom to organize.
“If we’re going to protect the standard of living of communications workers, then we have to organize the [wireless] industry,” said Fetonte.
“In our area of the country, [organizing wireless workers] is the No. 1 priority, and I believe in other parts of the country it’s the No. 1 priority,” he added.
Thus SBC, which Fetonte calls a model for others to follow, will have powerful organized labor on its side as it lobbies Congress, the FCC and the Justice Department for approval of the proposed merger with Ameritech.
Not so with WorldCom Inc. and MCI Communications Corp., both non-union companies. CWA has problems with that deal.
Lucent Technologies Inc., a highly successful wireless telecom supplier that AT&T spun off in 1996, averted a strike early last week by reaching agreements with CWA and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
CWA speaks for 24,000 Lucent workers in Murray Hill, N.J.
It is unclear, even with labor-management agreements, how successful efforts to have employees join unions will be in the wireless industry. Union prospects appear better for certain wireless jobs comparable to those held by wireline workers, such as in customer service and administrative support.
Unions are apt to be less successful bringing prized, high-skilled technicians and engineers into the fold. Because the demand for RF engineers and others is greater than the labor pool of available employees with the necessary skill sets, wireless firms can offer generous salaries and benefit packages on par with unions.
Jackson, for his part, is not happy with any of the telecom mergers in the pipeline. “In these industries, monopoly is the greatest threat to democracy,” Jackson said recently. “Concentration of ownership is fundamentally undemocratic. Consumers, workers, women and people of color are being excluded and left behind.”
Jackson is worried too that merged telecom giants will engage in redlining and cream-skimming to keep profits high and shareholders happy.
The Rainbow Coalition petitioned the FCC in January to block the proposed WorldCom-MCI merger.
Jackson criticized leaders of both major political parties for “their eerie silence” in the face of mega mergers in the telecom, banking, auto and airline industries. Why? Jackson suggests it is because both Democrats and Republicans don’t want to offend major corporations that can help finance their campaigns.
As such, telecom mergers have given Jackson a major forum to test the appeal of messages he could later parlay into campaign themes in the 2000 presidential election if he chooses to run.
Jackson has more clout with the FCC and the Clinton administration than with the GOP-controlled Congress.
To win the Congressional Black Caucus’ support during the Senate confirmation process, Bill Kennard, then-FCC general counsel who went on to become the first African American head of the agency, promised to give serious attention to fostering diversity in telecommunications.
In addition, Jackson has provided Clinton moral support during his scandal-ridden second term. Vice President Gore, the leading contender for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2000, likely would rather accommodate Jackson then have to contend with him two years from now.
On a related front, NAACP head Kweisi Mfume earlier this year threatened to boycott wireless companies with poor records of diversity in hiring and contracting.
