New CWA Report Reveals How Gigapower Puts Communities, Workers at Risk

While Gigapower—the joint fiber venture launched by AT&T and private equity investment giant BlackRock—seeks to expand its footprint across the country, a new report from CWA investigates its latest deployment in Chandler, Ariz.

The report, “Gigapower’s Chandler Conundrum,” documents how poor contractor selection, substandard field supervision, and questionable project management practices are resulting in damage to critical utility infrastructure and work stoppages over public safety concerns. The findings underscore CWA’s belief that Gigapower’s questionable workforce model puts workers and communities at risk and contributes to the erosion of telecom job quality and stability.

“I believe we are witnessing in real-time how Gigapower’s dangerous, corner-cutting business model endangers workers and dismantles local telecommunication careers in cities like Chandler, Arizona,” said Fernando Roman, CWA District 7 Campaign Lead and a broadband technician of 25 years. “This is why highly trained, union broadband technicians have continuously raised the alarm over this dangerous partnership. Policymakers and investors must take action to ensure Gigapower’s fiber deployments support good jobs and protect communities.”

CWA is recommending several steps for policymakers and investors, including gaining a deeper understanding of Gigapower’s workforce plan, contract language for a standardized agreement between the project and municipalities on right-of-way, and increased oversight mechanisms.

Click here to read the full report.

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This post originally appeared on cwa-union.org.