Union rep said the move will hurt seniors; calls it a quid pro quo for Verizon contributions to Jersey governor
The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities on Tuesday unanimously voted to exempt Verizon Communications from state regulations that apply to wired, landline telephone service.
According to NJ.com, Seth Hahn, political and legislative director for New Jersey-based Communications Workers of America union employees, said the vote would hit senior citizens the hardest.
“Today’s backroom deal is bad for seniors, bad for workers at Verizon and bad for the millions of businesses and homes that rely on affordable, reliable phone service. In fact, it’s bad for everyone in New Jersey except Verizon.
“Something changed between 2011 when Governor Christie said seniors need protections and now,” he continued. “I fear it’s the hundreds of thousands of dollars Verizon has funneled to various entities to help Christie’s political ambitions.”
The vote removes price regulation for home telephone service, businesses with single-line service, charges for residential connection and directory assistance.
Verizon spokesman Lee Giercynski painted the move as a reclassification rather than deregulation.
“Which means we have more flexibility to make changes to pricing without BPU’s approval. Stefanie Brand can say what she wants to say, but she’s been part of this proceeding since 2011 and they have not presented any evidence to support that claim,” Giercynski said.
Stefanie Brand is director of the consumer advocacy group Rate Counsel. She said, “The term reclassify is a fancy word for deregulate. So there is absolutely no question under that statute that when services [are] reclassified, it means the board loses its ability to regulate those services.”
