CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Deployment of fiber technology and expansion of broadband internet in West Virginia are among the biggest issues for the Communications Workers of America as they attempt to negotiate a new contract with Frontier Communications.
“In today’s environment, broadband services is a huge selling point for any company because all of us want to be connected and the fiber service has unlimited potential,” said Shannon Fink, Staff Representative for the Communications Workers of America in Charleston.
The old contract doesn’t expire until August, but the two sides are now in discussions about the best way to move forward without any work stoppage or other issues.
Frontier is a player in the broadband installation for West Virginia. They’ve been handling the work for the last couple of years and more work is coming. The company has added personnel to help meet the demand. Fink said they want to keep those new people on board and integrate them into the maintenance going forward.
“Our goal is to make sure those people are cared for and we think we’ll need them going forward,” he said.
Fink said CWA members are trained to handle the broadband installation as well as traditional telecommunications technology. He said they want to keep the union workers on as many of those jobs as possible and not allow contractors to be hired for the work. He said there are already a series of criteria in place to incentivize the rank and file members over contract workers and the goal of the union is to preserve that part of the agreement.
“We have the people here doing the work and we want to maintain that,” Fink explained.
The negotiations come at a critical time for the company, which emerged from bankruptcy in April, 2021. West Virginia is slated to receive $950 million from the bipartisan federal infrastructure bill to invest in expanding broadband internet access to locations across the state.
An estimated 29 percent of West Virginia households and businesses lack high-speed internet, and fewer than 20 percent of locations are served by reliable, future-proof fiber connections.
Frontier members in West Virginia and Ashburn, Va. went on strike for three weeks in 2018 in order to reach an agreement that ensured that they would be able to provide quality service and keep good jobs in their communities.
“Five years after our strike, we have the same priorities at Frontier in West Virginia and Virginia,” said Ed Mooney, Vice President of CWA District 2-13. “Our message is simple: we want a contract that supports quality jobs so we can deliver quality service.”