Netroots Nation and Others Led Astray on AT&T Takeover Of T-Mobile

[Commentary] For sponsoring the Wi-Fi service at the Netroots Nation conference, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) get rights to the first screen that everyone at the event sees when signing on to the network. In past years, the opening message has been fairly innocuous, like a pitch for the union’s “speed matters” campaign for faster Internet service. Who can disagree with the need to invest in high-speed Internet connection, right?

This year was different. This year, without the knowledge of the conference organizers, attendees got something more potent and controversial — a pitch for the AT&T takeover of T-Mobile or, as the union characterized it on the home screen, “Fighting for collective bargaining rights at T-Mobile.” As the site said, “T-Mobile is up for sale, and a merger with AT&T will give more than 20,000 T-Mobile workers a real opportunity to form a union without fear of being fired.” Keep that 20,000 figure in mind. What that number doesn't tell you is that T-Mobile in 2009 was named “one of the 100 best companies to work for” by Fortune magazine, the first telecom company to be so included. Avoiding layoffs and having generous child care subsidies were the reasons they were included. More to the point, T-Mobile now has about 40,000 employees. So CWA took half of them right off the top, assuming that their partner, job-killing but unionized AT&T, wouldn't keep them around.

The bottom line: for a chance – just a chance — to get 20,000 new members, CWA is willing to lead progressive organizations and Democrats into a world in which AT&T and the (nonunion) Verizon Wireless rule the air, creating that almost duopoly, setting up a GSM monopoly, squeezing out smaller players and setting the stage for higher prices, fewer features on phones, and more stringent bandwidth caps. Or just about anything else those two companies want to do as their protectors in Congress (hint: not usually Democrats) will resist regulation to the bitter end claiming the “market” will solve all and that we couldn't possibly have regulation. It’s evident CWA is following an accepted path of enlightened self-interest. It’s not so evident why others who should know better follow them.