The Communications Workers of America union congratulated AT&T over its legal win against the Department of Justice which became official on Tuesday afternoon, with the wireless carrier successfully defending its proposed purchase of Time Warner in the court of law. While CWA and AT&T are presently amid a major contract row and have been taking potshots at each other for months, both have been pushing for the Time Warner deal to be approved with no additional concessions, albeit for different reasons; AT&T sees the $85.6 billion tie-up as an opportunity to diversify its operations and become less reliant on the stagnating wireless industry, whereas CWA believes the consolidation will be conducive to the creation of new high-paying jobs across the United States.
The largest wireless labor union in the country also asked the Justice Department to not demand a stay of Judge Leon’s Tuesday decision which the federal agency can still do until early next week. As the merger has a June 21 deadline, a stay request could place its future in jeopardy should Time Warner decide to break off with AT&T, though it’s presently unclear whether Washington will push for such a move. Besides extra jobs, CWA believes the tie-up will benefit a broad range of communities through additional investments in services and pro-consumer initiatives.
The union was also supportive of AT&T’s 2015 DIRECTV acquisition for much the same reasons, though its relations with the second-largest mobile service provider in the country were less tense three years ago than they are today. The Justice Department sued to block AT&T‘s bid after unsuccessfully pressuring the company into agreeing to break up Time Warner’s Turner or divest DIRECTV following the consolidation. The deal has already been approved by all other competent regulators and should be completed before its late June deadline should the DOJ refrain from appealing the decision.