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Activists Mobilize to Ensure Maine Doesn’t Shut Out Internet Access |
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Robert Masciola, deputy director of the AFL-CIO Center for Strategic Research, and Rand Wilson, field communications specialist for the center in Massachusetts, highlight the growing public opposition to corporate greed that results in limited access to high-speed Internet.
A delegation of union and community activists delivered more than 5,000 postcards in a wheelbarrow to Maine Gov. John Baldacci’s office Sept. 25, asking him to oppose the proposed sale of Verizon to FairPoint Communications.
The group, made up of representatives from seniors, telephone workers, first responders, parents and health care providers, sought to ensure Baldacci gets the message: Stop the Sale! The postcards ask Baldacci to “Take a strong stand against allowing Verizon to sell its assets to FairPoint.”
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the public utilities commissions in New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine are considering a proposed $2.7 billion sale of Verizon’s rural landlines to FairPoint Communications. If all three states and the FCC approve, Verizon will be allowed to abandon all its so-called low-value residential customers in the three states, while keeping its more profitable customers, including Big Business and wireless users.
The Electrical Workers (IBEW) and Communications Workers of America (CWA) have two great websites for additional news and in-depth information. Operated by IBEW Locals 2320, 2326 and 2327, www.no-deal.org/ has radio and television spots about the dispute and videos of worker and community actions. At www.stop-the-sale.org, CWA’s District 1 and Local 1400 have recent news, fliers, fact sheets and more useful information.
In a prepared statement, Gerry Gay, president of the Professional Firefighters of Maine, stated:
In our opinion, the proposed FairPoint acquisition of the Verizon Northern New England properties poses unacceptably high risks. We do not want to be left on FairPoint’s “dirt road” to nowhere!
Matt Beck, a parent of three school-age children from South Portland, described why the sale would be unfair to working people:
It’s really unfair that anyone in Maine is denied the kind of high speed Internet service that is available for most of the rest of America. This sale to tiny FairPoint may only deepen the digital divide that is already putting people in Maine at a disadvantage.
Maine AFL-CIO President Edward Gorham said approval of this sale could send Maine and its economy backward. Cutting-edge technology is essential to retaining family-supportive paying jobs in the state. FairPoint has not demonstrated it has the resources or the technology to keep pace with today’s world. Check out more photos from the event here.
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