TDS Metrocom: Response to 9-12-4 Guest Column from Ann Crump, CWA Wisconsin

CONTACT:
Drew Petersen
Director-Legislative Affairs
608.664.4155
andrew.petersen@tdstelecom.com

I respect Ann Crump, representative for the Communications Workers of America-Wisconsin. The aggression and irony levied as part of her recent guest column challenging local phone competition generally and TDS Metrocom specifically, however, is profound. What many academics and economists would classify as decades old, union versus non-union class warfare is unnecessary and nowhere near the heart of the debate raging about the wholesale rates local competitors should pay incumbent SBC for access to “last mile” telephone connections.

For the record, TDS has never—in public testimony or anywhere else, criticized the hard work of front-line workers in the communications industry. Since deregulation, there has been a structured partnership in place allowing former Wisconsin Bell, and then Ameritech, now SBC customers to depart in search of lower prices, value-rich packages and personalized service from companies such as TDS.

Ms. Crump is “spot on” suggesting the debate at the PSCW is all about jobs. TDS has created over 1,000 Wisconsin jobs since 1998. We regularly hire former SBC workers searching for better pay, room for advancement, more robust benefits and additional responsibilities. Respectfully, there is nothing hokey about jobs!

Speaking of hokey— to suggest, as Ms. Crump does, that SBC is going to create more jobs and make additional infrastructure investments if no one is left standing to compete against them is nothing short of heresy. Why would a company bulk-up staff and make costly investments if no one was pushing them to do so? Shareholders at SBC would not stand for it and everyone knows a monopoly does only what it needs to keep regulators off its back, nothing more!

Because TDS is SBC’s largest customer in Wisconsin, regularly writing monthly checks in excess of $5 million to pay for wholesale access, we believe (and have been told by SBC staff); in many respects we are single-handedly responsible for significant job creation within the SBC organization. Since we require installation and service technicians to support and process our orders, we create substantial workload for unionized workers regularly.

If the PSCW were to accept SBC’s unrealistic request for a massive wholesale rate increase (and we hope and believe they won’t), TDS will be forced to halt competitive operations to businesses and residences across Wisconsin. The resulting job loss at TDS and SBC will likely occur in equal proportions. Ms. Crump, this is not good for our economy or the public interest.

As for other claims in Ms. Crump’s article that TDS Metrocom is an out-of-state company, I would simply encourage her to review her company’s annual report and ours. TDS’ wireline operations are headquartered in Madison, our corporate leadership work daily on Junction Road and we make all corporate decisions in the 53717 zip code, SBC is from Texas.

As for the conspiracy theory that TDS is anti-union and worked toward that end at our Dickeyville location, I would respond that the amount of effort required to research our union figures of 167 employees (probably five minutes) is far longer the amount of time we spent discouraging union activities in Dickeyville. At TDS we value all employees equally.

Straight Talk

SBC has strong-armed its union employees to speak on behalf of their corporate interests. The relationship between SBC and the CWA can only be described as abusive at best. Six months ago, CWA commissioned a strike because they justifiably felt they were being short-changed regarding wages and health care premiums. SBC’s Chief Executive Ed Wittacre publicly remarked, “shareholders should like a strike”. He reasoned, when workers strike— all payrolls, benefits and overhead associated with striking workers are transferred directly to the corporate bottom line. This is misguided leadership in my view, good corporate governance in his.

SBC’s reliance on and use of CWA employees in this critical regulatory pricing debate is unfortunate and troubling. TDS, who values and appreciates CWA employees, believes our secret weapon in this case, truthful testimony and reasonable cost figures will resonate better with the consumers, regulators and elected government leaders who respect competition in the local telecommunications industry. Those same folks know we are not the “Chicken Little” in this debate.

–Drew Petersen is Director of Legislative Affairs for TDS Telecom.