"Job-Killing" AT&T T-Mobile Merger: A Dropped Call?
(Posted August 18, 2011 07:40 am)
By Les Coleman
JACKSONVILLE, FL - Experts may differ over the exact number, but if AT&T is allowed to swallow up T-Mobile and become the largest cell phone service provider in the country, some 20,000 jobs are likely to be eliminated - about 2,000 held by T-Mobile workers in Jacksonville.
As the country struggles to avoid a double-dip
recession, Chance Williams of the media watchdog group
FreePress.org says approving the takeover does not
make sense.
"It's 100 percent clear that this merger is a
job-killer. This is a massive horizontal merger and
that's the kind that always costs jobs."
AT&T says the merger will expand broadband service and
actually create jobs.
Amalia Deloney of the
Center for Media Justice points out that T-Mobile's
traditionally low-cost plans have made it a popular
choice among low-income families and communities of
color. She says merger-related job losses will hit those
people hard, too.
"We're looking at the number of people who are employed
currently at T-Mobile, 48 percent of whom are employees
of color, and then the fact that, if the merger went
through, as many as 20,000 people would potentially
receive pink slips."
A poll just released shows the percentage of
telecommunications experts who expect the government to
approve the merger has dropped from 54 percent last
month to 49 percent. Deloney credits public opposition
for the drop in perceived support for the takeover.
"The tide is starting to turn, and it's primarily
because elected officials, appointed officials and other
public officials are finally understanding that the
public is absolutely against this."
Williams says, on the whole, there are few reasons to
okay the AT&T/T-Mobile merger and many to disallow it.
"You've got unemployment on the rise and the poverty
rate at a 15-year high. There's absolutely no reason to
approve a deal that's anti-competitive, that's going to
cost jobs and in the end, raise consumer prices."
The Justice Department and Federal Communications
Commission are considering the merger.