The Communications Workers of America (CWA) launched an ad last week, encouraging the Arizona Commerce Authority (ACA) to ensure that the nearly $1 billion in federal funding the state is receiving for high-speed broadband buildout goes to companies committed to quality, safety, and hiring locally.
“The Arizona Commerce Authority can make sure it’s done right by only working with dependable companies committed to hiring highly-trained local workers, who provide quality service customers trust over the long run,” says William Cody in the ad, a CWA member and broadband technician based in Phoenix, AZ. “And that boosts our local economy with good jobs.”
The union cited that in Arizona, 31 percent of households — nearly 800,000 — are underserved or unserved with little or no access to the internet, but says the Internet for All Initiative, the “historic” federal investment included in the Infrastructure Law, will change that.
The state is receiving $993.1 million through the Infrastructure Law to build and deploy broadband, and close the digital divide. That funding is on top of $23 million Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs secured in the state’s budget to create the Rural Broadband Accelerated Match fund in anticipation of this award.
The influx of funding is poised to create a boom in job creation across the state, according to the CWA. “But with that comes fly-by-night contractors from out of state looking to make a quick buck who,” says the ad, “aren’t invested in a quality network for Arizona.”
CWA stressed in the ad that if buildout and deployment is done safely, correctly, and transparently, funding must go towards internet service providers that “have strong training and safety programs, provide high quality wages and benefits, and have proactive practices to ensure compliance with state and federal safety, labor, and civil rights laws.”
In order to meet these goals, CWA is asking that the ACA establish the strongest possible labor standards for funded projects and rigorously evaluate the technical capabilities and track records of the internet service providers who apply. CWA is also calling on Arizona to prioritize applicants that will use a directly employed workforce and require program participants to provide regular reports on the use of subcontractors, an imperative step for transparency and accountability.
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