Earlier today we ran a story regarding the Communication Workers of America union claim that the AT&T, T-Mobile “merger” would create 100,000 jobs. Now we’re compelled to revisit that story thanks to Karl Bode from DSLReports who pretty much turned the words of the CWA upside down and inside out.
Most of us recognize that the CWA has an ulterior motive as they see the potential for thousands and thousands of new members and so they’ve sided with AT&T quite feverishly. As Karl reviewed this mornings claim of 100,000 new jobs being added he was able to determine that number was both inaccurate and misleading. The number itself was pulled from an EPI report from last summer that counted “potential job years” which was defined as “one year of employed” and not actual jobs.
The report also never claims it would create jobs, which is important because the opposite is expected to happen. The redundant positions at T-Mobile along with retail location closings could mean thousands of workers could lose their jobs.
So let’s turn our attention to the CWA claim from this morning again and recognize that these numbers are again, from the very same EPI report that generally explored the relationship between investment and job creation. More importantly, the authors of the report have said that the report should be taken generally and doesn’t claim any job creation from the AT&T, T-Mobile deal and doesn’t check any of AT&T’s claims.
The job creation numbers that are cited are entirely based on AT&T’s claim that network investment will increase in response to the T-Mobile deal, which isn’t accurate. AT&T is telling regulators the deal will increase network investment by $8 billion while telling investors it will reduce investment by $10 billion over 6 years. So if T-Mobile ceases to exist and overall investment is reduced, what happens to the CWA claims?
The fact of the matter is that the CWA is making false claims in order to help sell the T-Mobile deal as support wanes and AT&T faces a Department of Justice lawsuit.
Thanks Brett and Karl for pointing this out!