‘They’re trying to do it on the cheap’
Union: Frontier using contractors, rather than workers, for fiber optic expansion
The Communication Workers of America is launching a $500,000 national media campaign against Frontier Communications for using contractor labor rather than the company’s own employees to build out its fiber optic internet network.
Union officials announced the launch of a media campaign, which will include billboards and television advertising, during a press conference at the Hamden headquarters of CWA’s Local 1298 Thursday.
“They use contractors that don’t have the skill and the dedication to the company that our members do,” said Dave Weidlich, Local 1298’s president. “Internet service has become as important to this country as any other utility. They’re trying to do it on the cheap and that where mistakes occur because the quality of the work just isn’t as good.”
Weidlich said evidence of the accuracy of his claim is the $5 million fine that Connecticut’s Public Utilities Regulatory Authority levied against Frontier for the “reckless” installation of fiber optic cable by its contractors. Joe Cooper, a spokesman for PURA, said Frontier paid the $5 million fine on Wednesday “and is thus not requesting a hearing with respect to notice of violation.”
Frontier is still working with PURA officials regarding the company developing a plan to make the problems with contractors work doesn’t resurface, according to Cooper. PURA rejected Frontier’s original oversight plan that was submitted on Aug. 16, he said.
Company officials submitted an amended plan on Tuesday that is currently being reviewed, Cooper said.
Chrissy Murray, a Frontier spokeswoman, said the company chose to pay the fine rather than contest PURA’s claims because “we cannot afford further delay in deploying fiber to our customers in Connecticut.” Currently, Murray said Frontier’s fiber optic network passes over 450,000 homes and businesses in the state.
“The demand for this critical communications infrastructure is increasing by the day, so we have agreed to make this payment in an effort to quickly move forward with providing additional fiber services to the State of Connecticut,” she said. “We are working cooperatively with PURA to address any outstanding issues with a comprehensive plan to ensure compliance with all regulations moving forward.”
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., spoke at Thursday’s press conference at Local 1298, calling Frontier’s fiber optic installation practices “shoddy and a threat to people’s ability to work remotely.”
“The government is spending billions of dollars around the country to expedite the roll out of fiber optic service and that work should be done by the best trained workers,” he said. “A number of my colleagues in the Senate are quite concerned about this and we will continue to fight in order to make sure the work is done right.”
Murray said the demand for fiber optic cable installation is so great that using contractors to supplement full-time employers “is an industry wide practice.”
“We’re in the midst of a nationwide labor shortage trying to hire hundreds of new tech workers,” Murray said. “To do that, we need an all of the above strategy.”
Frontier now pays employees who refer workers that company ends up hiring $1,000, nearly triple what the payment once was, she said.
The Norwalk-based telecommunications company is in the midst of a multiyear expansion of its fiber optic network in Connecticut and other states where it operates. Frontier announced its expansion plans in April 2021.
Frontier’s use of contractors instead of its own employees isn’t limited to Connecticut, Weidlich said.
About 2,000 CWA members employed by Frontier in California walked off the job last week to protest the company’s use of contractors in that state. Late Thursday, Weidlich said union officials in California got Frontier to agree to take significant steps to adhere to the limits of subcontracting set forth in CWA’s collective bargaining agreement with the company there.
”This a national model for them, using contract labor and not investing in good jobs,” he said.
Even as Frontier is using contractors, it is offering buyouts to seasoned employees who are trained to do the fiber optic cable installations, according to Weidlich. CWA had 2,200 members working for Frontier in Connecticut in 2014; now it has 1,500 working for the company, he said.
Murray said using contractors to supplement the build out Frontier’s fiber optic network is the most practical, efficient way to expedite the installation work.