CWA Says Connecticut Plan to Speed Pole Attachments Risks Jobs, Safety
Connecticut union workers opposed a pole-attachment proposal meant to reduce delay, while Crown Castle said the Public Utility Regulatory Authority could go further, in exceptions filed Friday in docket 19-01-52. PURA plans to vote Wednesday on an interim order to…
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allow pole attachers to employ third-party contractors for surveying and engineering work to mitigate delay by single pole administrators and ILECs (see 1912260016). The plan saves time at the price of union jobs and public and worker safety, and would direct Frontier Communications to violate its collective bargaining agreement with the union, wrote Communications Workers of America Local 1298 President David Weidlich. The draft correctly solves several problems but is incomplete, not acknowledging wireless attachers even though small cells are growing fast, said Crown Castle. PURA should soon address make-ready problems and ILEC underground conduit policies, the wireless infrastructure company added. Verizon and the New England Cable and Telecommunications Association supported the draft; the Connecticut Office of Consumer Counsel said it has no objections.