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Think Verizon Should Get $700 Million to Abandon Customers and Workers?
It’s Happening Now in New England.
Let’s Stop It There . . . and Everywhere Else.
Verizon is trying to sell its network in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine to tiny, heavily indebted FairPoint Communications. Union members in New England fear losing the standard of living we’ve built over decades.
FairPoint has promised to maintain the current contract—a commitment often made in such mergers—but only until contract expiration next year. When Alltel bought Verizon’s properties in Kentucky, it also promised to maintain the terms of the current contract. However, Alltel proceeded to make unilateral changes its purchase was approved. Alltel also provoked a multi-month strike during negotiations on a new contract.
Massive Verizon chose tiny FairPoint because it could avoid paying up to $700 million in taxes on the deal by taking advantage of a tax loophole called the “Reverse Morris Trust.”
While Verizon walks away with taxpayer money, consumers and the economy will suffer because highly indebted FairPoint will not be able to invest in a high speed internet infrastructure—which abandons millions of customers to the information dirt road, rather than the information superhighway. FairPoint will be constrained by its high dividend/high debt load commitments from maintaining the defined benefit pension, fully-paid health insurance, retiree health benefits, and job security provisions.
This is just the start. Verizon has already announced it intends to sell off other areas. Taxpayers shouldn’t subsidize Verizon’s attempts to sell off our jobs and our access to high speed internet.
Act Now! Call Your Senators at 888-844-5004
Tell them: No Taxpayer Money for Selling Off Networks!
Protect Good Jobs in Telecom!
Close the “Reverse Morris Trust” Tax Loophole
