EKB News

West Virginia state regulators are reviewing a controversial proposed Verizon-Frontier landline merger. The Communication Workers of America union has launched a newspaper and radio ad campaign against Frontier's plan to purchase 617,000 Verizon telephone lines in West Virginia. The union says the company wants to divest its assets to reap $3.3 billion in tax-free profits. The campaign says the merger is, "Good for Wall Street, Bad for West Virginia." On Wednesday, the heads of Verizon, Frontier and Communication Workers union met while addressing the Joint Standing Committee on the Judiciary. During the interim hearing, Frontier's Vice President for the Eastern Region, Ken Arndt, told those present that substantially all Verizon employees would continue to perform the same functions while remaining employees of Frontier. While being pressed later, Arndt said, with the exception of technicians, the company could not 100% guarantee future employment of all workers and could only guarantee 18 months employment for technicians. State regulators say they're taking a wait and see approach, while a final hearing on the proposal is scheduled in front of the Public Service Commission for January 12, 2010.