Ed Schultz said AT&T T-Mobile Merger SHOULD go thru - He is pissed at Sen. Al Franken - Whose right?

[1776Forever]

Ed Schultz said just now on his radio show that the AT&T T-Mobile Deal is a good one. He said he is pissed at Sen. Al Franken for opposing it and the Unions want the deal to go through. I would like to hear from others here on DU to see what you think? The Justice Dept. is going to file to block this merger.

Info links:

U.S. Justice Department sues to stop AT&T merger with T-Mobile
August 31, 2011 | 9:13 am
LA Times

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2011/08/att-t-mobile.html

............

Sen. Al Franken Opposes AT&T, T-Mobile Merger
Outspoken senator from Minnesota says deal would kill off thousands of U.S. jobs and raise cell phone prices.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/government/mobile/231002716?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_All

By Eric Zeman InformationWeek
July 27, 2011 11:20 AM

Opponents and proponents of AT&T's $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile have not been shy about making their opinions heard. Senator Al Franken, the Saturday Night Live alum, recently sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission asking that it stop the deal in its tracks.

......

AT&T vows to bring back 5,000 U.S. jobs if merger approved
LOS ANGELES | Wed Aug 31, 2011 9:01am EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Telecommunications giant AT&T Inc, whose proposed buy of T-Mobile USA is under scrutiny by U.S. regulators, promised to bring 5,000 wireless call-center jobs back to the United States if the deal wins approval.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/31/us-att-jobs-idUSTRE77U0M620110831

...........

Please share your thoughts!

[sakabatou]

1. Franken is right

With this merger, it means less competition and higher prices.

[daa]

19. +1000

[tularetom]

2. As a T-Mobil customer formerly with AT&T, I say Franken is right

I switched in the first place because AT&T sucked so bad.

I don't know WTF I'd do if I wound up back with AT&T because of this stupid merger.

At least I could get an iPhone but I'm not sure it's worth it.

[a la izquierda]

21. I flat out told the T-Mobile employee...

who helped me the other day that if the merger goes through, I'm breaking my contract (I actually think my monthly charge will go up, so I'll be allowed to break it...or so I've read). I want no part of AT&T.
I may end up going with Boost or Virgin mobile. It's cheaper anyway. And no stupid contract.

[hifiguy]

3. Franken

More consolidation = shittier service and higher prices as sure as eggs is eggs.

[pintobean]

7. And how many jobs will the consolidation kill?

I bet it's a lot more than 5000.

[1776Forever]

14. Excellent question! These are the kind of questions we need to consider! n/t

[Blue Owl]

4. Franken

n/t

[JustAnotherGen]

5. Forcing it to go through

JMHO - as a person who has worked in various services of Telecom for 13 years? Will cause another 'divestiture' approach in a just a few years. I seriously believe that. Look up Divestiture 1984.

In the late 90's I worked for Global Crossing in the Carrier Group (hired into Frontier but sold to G Double Crossing). The end result of Divestiture was a lot of little CLECS 10/12 years later. Then a bubble. Then an implosion.

If we get to that point - the wireless industry needs to have the dickens monitored out of it. No 'network' swaps 'posing' as revenue to Wall Street.

[BeyondGeography]

6. This is about pricing power for AT&T, as if they need more

I side with the gov't; this rings true:

"The department filed this lawsuit because we feel the combination of AT&T and T-Mobile will result in tens of millions of consumers, all across the United States, facing higher prices, fewer choices, and lower-quality products for their mobile wireless services," said James Cole, deputy attorney general, in a press conference, announcing the action.

[Cleita]

8. I can see Ed's point. He's backing up the unions who

think this will bring jobs in the short term. However, I agree with Al. We should be breaking up mega corporations into smaller units so that main street companies can compete in true free market fashion instead of allowing them to grow even bigger. I personally hate AT & T who has taken over all our phone and cell companies in my area so we have no choice but them. Trying to get customer service is a nightmare. I was without a land line for two months until I could get it fixed and yet I was charged for service the whole time. They agreed to give me back what amounted to $5 and this was after months of not being able to reach them because I didn't have the time to hang on the line.

[rhett o rick]

15. I dont understand how the unions can support this. nm

[Xithras]

24. Because it boosts union ranks.

Remember, a unions primary job is to serve the interests of its members and to increase its membership. AT&T has promised to create 5,000 call center jobs in the U.S. if the merger is approved, and AT&T call centers are union shops.

Unfortunately, the merger will also wipe out at least 20,000 non-union American jobs as AT&T closes down T-Mobile's redundant retail stores, call centers, and distribution centers. The exact numbers haven't been released, but T-Mobile employs more than 40,000 people in the U.S., and most of the company will be shut down after the merger. The only thing AT&T wants is the network and towers, so the only people it needs to keep are the T-Mobile employees who maintain it.

[1776Forever]

26. Do you have a link for these numbers - I wanted to share this info. Thanks! n/t

[Xithras]

32. I've seen them in several places.

I've read them several times, but didn't keep the links. T-Mo's wiki page shows that they currently have 42,000 employees, and AT&T has stated a few times that T-Mo will effectively cease to exist after the merger, so I didn't have any reason to doubt them.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/23/tmobile-stores-att-merger_n_883561.html
According to this article, T-Mo has about 3,100 retail stores in the United States, 41% of which are within a mile of an existing AT&T store. While AT&T may rebrand some of the stores, it goes without saying that any T-Mo stores that compete with thier existing stores will be shuttered, and AT&T has already said that some of its cost savings will come from "an efficient reorganization of retail stores". That corporatespeak for "we're closing the stores and firing people".

[1776Forever]

39. Great links! Thanks for your time! Appreciate this very much! n/t

[rhett o rick]

42. Thank you very much for this information. nm

[ProgressoDem]

47. I agree in certain respects.

I definitely agree with you that we need to break up mega corporations. However, I can't say I agree with this ideal of having everything be main street companies. Some industries are just more conducive to big business. That's not to say that mega-corporations are a good thing though.

[rurallib]

9. I'll side with Franken

Not like I keep track of mergers, but my general feeling is that in the past 30 years many slices of the economy have moved to only a couple very large players.
Seems these have usually resulted in cuts in the workforce, worse service and higher prices. Not to mention more power for their lobbying.
I am listening to Ed and am really confused by his logic.

[hlthe2b]

10. As a current At&T customer, I say Franken is right...

even though the merger might actually be helpful to me. I was reticent for years to go to At&T, but finally I had a business-related offer I just couldn't refuse and made the jump.

I wonder if Ed feels this way since he comes from ND and MN--areas where At&T has struggled to provide adequate service. :shrug:

On principle, however, I do not believe further telecom consolidation--sans regulation-- could possibly be beneficial for consumers.

[GoneOffShore]

11. Ed is full of it. Franken is right

AT&T has gotten caught with their emails down and why Ed is trying to defend them is anybody's guess.

We need more competition, not less.

[nilram]

13. +10

[Ian David]

12. Ed Schultz has been bought and paid for. Fuck him. n/t

[rhett o rick]

16. If it's between Schultz and Franken, I will always go with Franken. nm

[Pisces]

17. Franken over Ed, that is a no brainer. Franken will always win.

[jberryhill]

18. That's what courts are for

[louis-t]

20. "promised to bring 5,000 wireless call-center jobs back"

Does ANYONE believe them?

[nomb]

22. It's the Union Vs Franken. Not Ed V. Franken, Ed's just supporting the Union line on this.

I'm opposed to the merger though. I don't know the Union's or Frankens exact reasoning, but I go with competition for the consumer and more jobs in two firms not one.

[Bluenorthwest]

28. Uh, that's one frame for it. But then, Al is a lifelong member of

a few Unions, and Ed, well, feel free to show me the Union contract at MSNBC or on the Ed Show. Where is Ed's Union card? When he hires, and he does, are they mostly Union? What Union would that be?

[BR_Parkway]

23. When has combining the redundancies in 2 companies that merge ever

created 5,000 jobs?

[femrap]

25. If the merger goes thru,

this one company will control 80% of mobile phone market. How the hell can that be good? In the 1980's, didn't we break up AT&T???

Remember all the Baby Bells? And now we're right back where we started w/ another monopoly.

And if one believes AT&T will increase the number of jobs by 5,000, I have a bridge to sell.

When mergers take place, JOBS ARE CUT. Who needs 2 accounting departments? 2 HR depts? It's a JOB KILLER.

AT&T can make all the 'vows' it wants to....they f*cking LIE. I hate AT&T....they're greedy and evil. I wouldn't believe a word from that corporation.

[ejpoeta]

30. they MAY 'create' 5000 jobs, but after they cut all the tmobile employees what will the

net be?

[Shagbark Hickory]

27. Geez. That's a tough one.

:sarcasm:

[Renaissance Man]

29. I'm going to have to go with Al Franken on this one ...

AT&T is the Wal-Mart of wireless carriers.

I formerly worked for AT&T, and I can tell you from personal experience that the larger AT&T has become (with buying up a lot of the smaller regional mobile carriers -- what used to be BellSouth Mobility, Cingular Wireless, and regional mobile carriers across the United States), the worse they have become, as far as labor, wages, service, incentives, business practices, etc. I worked with someone who told me that when wireless companies were regional, employees were treated better -- better wages, more incentives, etc.

The majority of AT&T's call centers that service wireless and wireline customers are located in right to work states, and AT&T has consistently relocated their call centers to these states to depress wages, hike prices on their products, and shift labor costs (like health care) to their employees. Right before I left AT&T, CWA (was a union member) was in negotiations with AT&T, and AT&T wanted to increase insurance premiums on their call center workers, so that those workers would be assuming a $300 per month bill on their health insurance (where these same workers previously were paying $18 per month for their health insurance -- and this was just for one person covered, not an entire family).

For someone working at one of AT&T's call centers located in the Deep Southern right-to-work states, this meant that your average call center worker (that was receiving a $10.00 - $13.00 per hour wage - bi-weekly pay would be $1,040 before taxes) would be forced to pay $300 per month toward the monthly premium (skyrocketing from .8% to 14.5% of monthly wages).

... and this was after the merger of AT&T and Cingular (that netted the company $4 billion in profits) and the release of the iPhone (which, at that time, allowed AT&T to make money hand over fist). Those profits did not trickle down to their employees.

I won't even get into the fact that many of the people who work in AT&T's wireless call centers often are required to work weekends away from their families for these already paltry wages. I won't even get into how AT&T subcontracts with telecommunications companies that don't adequately train their employees.

I'm sorry, but Ed is wrong on this one. I'm with Senator Franken. This merger should not be allowed to continue. We need more national wireless carriers -- NOT less.

[1776Forever]

37. Now that reply was well thought out & very informative! Thank you for your time! n/t

[Lionessa]

31. The answer is in the last sentence you posted ...they "promised to bring"

jobs back to the US. Micron promised that in Boise if they would just get enough local and state tax waivers, they got their waivers, hired about 500 people for about 5 months and then had a layoff of about 1000, if I recall correctly.

First off 5000 jobs brought to the US is pittance, secondly corps never keep their promises of US jobs for long, just long enough to get what they want. Unless the approval comes with severe penance if they reduce workforce in anyway in the next ten years, which of course these mergers like bail outs never do, it's a three card monty kind of thing, imo.

[Stuart G]

33. The answer is this: ATT is union.

ATT still employs union workers.
If T Mobil does not, then the merged company would indeed employ all union workers.

So, for some reason the former SBC, Southwestern Bell, the force behind all of this that was what it was called years ago..
.....kept their workers unionized.

Yes, the merged company would indeed be unionized, but I belive competition would indeed be lessoned.
you decide which is worse..........

[justiceischeap]

34. I'll side with not having monopolies

We all bitch about cable prices and it's because there is no real competition in the market. As consumers, we don't need 3 phone companies with no real desire to compete. It's not like if ATT doesn't buy T-Mobile, the union company will go out of business. It's ridiculous to couch it in those terms.

[Indykatie]

35. These Mergers Always Result in Reduced Workforces

I personally would like to see the merger blocked. I am also very concerned by the impending merger of Express Scripts and Medco, 2 of the 3 large PBMs. I hope the Feds take a good strong look at the impact that that merger will have on them delivery and costs of prescription drug costs at both the Retail and Mail Order point of sale.

[Liberal In Texas]

36. Franken is right.

Schultz and the union reps who want this are wrong.

We don't need any more monopolization.

[Rex]

38. Ed needs to bone up on monopolies and admit he is wrong and

the merger would lead to less competition and higher prices.

[Ikonoklast]

40. I side with Sen Al.

Does anyone really still believe that "Bigger is Better!" line anymore?

[madokie]

41. Screw ED

it took me a whole sum total of about a dozen times watching his show on m$nbc to know he doesn't talk for me for the most part.

[Bake]

43. SOMEbody is going to buy T-Mobile.

If not AT&T, then possibly Sprint. Is that any better? The Germans want to get rid of T-Mobile. Somebody's going to buy it--one of the big players.

Might as well be AT&T.

Bake

[Zoigal]

44. Gave up my I phone because i had to use AT&T

(Great phone, miss it). Agree with Al Franken.
We have enough mega corporations in the US,
don't need any more IMO. Use a no contract
Virgin now.....z

[pintobean]

48. You might want to

look into unlocking the iphone and using it on T-mobile. They have competitive no-contract access.

[Enthusiast]

45. Ed is wrong........nt

[nadinbrzezinski]

46. Franken the union leadership is wrong on this one