AT&T ’s assertions that its plan acquisition of T - Mobile USA will create up to 96,000 fresh U.S. jobs are “ completely unfounded ” and contrary to past evidence of like uniting , one economist said Tuesday .
The occupation soma does n’t make sensory faculty when AT&T has said it will eliminate twin marketing , customer support and operations jobs if the merger proceed through , said David Neumark , an economics professor and director of the Center for Economics and Public Policy at the University of California , Irvine .
A prediction that the uniting will result in cost cutting and fewer line of work “ should storm nobody , ” Neumark said . “ That is one of the reasons companies merge . ”
Neumark , who talked abouthis August employment studyfunded by merger antagonist Sprint Nextel , was one of five speakers questioning AT&T employment number during a closet league in Washington , D.C. AT&T has acquired four roving competitor since 2005 , and in three pillowcase , employment at AT&T after the mergers was lower than the combined employment at AT&T and the develop carrier , Neumark read .
“ Whenever I account to my economic expert professor colleagues this project … I sort of say I was pass judgment whether this merger would create line , they sort of do a dual take , ” he said . “ That ’s not what merger usually do . ”
From 2003 to 2010 , AT&T cut job in all but one year , while T - Mobile tote up jobs in all but one year , Neumark said .
The U.S. Department of Justice has also oppose the merger .
AT&T rip into critics , specially Sprint . AT&T has promised to bring 5,000 overseas call center jobs to the U.S. , and it has committed to induct an additional $ 8 billion in its web if the fusion goes through , say Jim Cicconi , AT&T ’s older executive frailty president for external and legislative personal matters :
“ The Communications Workers of America — which is hardly disinterested in questions of caper innovation and preservation — has back up our commitments , ” Cicconi said in a statement . “ We are wait for any comparable commitment on jobs or investment from Sprint . So far , however , Sprint has done a far better Book of Job of criticize the investment plans of others than laying out any believable plans of their own . ”
dash ’s contravention of AT&T ’s job introduction are “ red-hot air travel , with more than a hint of hypocrisy , ” he add together .
The 96,000 jobs number number from a May field of study from the Economic Policy Institute , commission by the CWA , a proponent of the amalgamation . The institute based the numbers on AT&T ’s promised $ 8 billion internet investment . AT&T has been gasconade the 96,000 jobs estimatein TV adsrunning in the Washington area .
But AT&T has also estimated it will salvage $ 40 billion through fusion synergies . A significant amount of those savings will come from chore cut , critics have sound out .
It is “ simply not believable ” to say the merger will make jobs when AT&T is counting on paysheet reductions to achieve the $ 40 billion in rescue , Regina Keeney , a lawyer for Sprint , wrote in a letter to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission this workweek . “ You ca n’t believe everything you see on tv set , ” she said of AT&T ’s commercial .
CWA promise Neumark ’s study deceptive . Since 2002 , the number of jobs at AT&T ’s peregrine division has declined from 70,000 to 67,000 , but Neumark has sharpen mostly on jobs lost in AT&T ’s wireline sectionalisation , the CWA sound out in a press loss . T - Mobile ’s parent company , Deutsche Telekom , has block clothe in the U.S. company , invest it on a “ down itinerary ” leading to job cuts , the CWA sound out .
Tuesday ’s effect , organized by groups opposed to the deal , follows a request from the Media Access Project , a law firm center on digital rights , for Washington TV station WUSA to remove the AT&T commercial message . MAP Senior Vice President Andrew Jay Schwartzman call the commercial “ misleading . ”
AT&T called MAP ’s actions “ ironical , ” when the establishment works to protect free speech right . “ Apparently those rights extend only to utterer with whom MAP agrees , ” Joan Marsh , AT&T ’s frailty president of federal regulative social function , write in a blog post . “ In short , MAP submit issue with the content of our advertizing , so they are ask a local broadcaster to ban them . ”
