Union Busting: CWA Holds the Key to Net Neutrality but Won't Open the Door

UNION BUSTING: CWA HOLDS THE KEY TO NET NEUTRALITY BUT WON'T OPEN THE DOOR
[SOURCE: Huffington Post, AUTHOR: Art Brodsky]
[Commentary] Apparently, the Communications Workers of America have a problem with Network Neutrality. Like it or not, CWA is the key to whether the Internet will continue to be open, or whether the telephone and cable companies will turn it into an instrument under their control. The prospects are not encouraging. To put it more strongly, given the influence the union wields with Democratic legislators in Congress and in state houses, the prospects are downright discouraging. Democrats who traditionally take progressive positions on issues are also Democrats who don't want to cross organized labor. When there is a conflict, labor wins. And if labor is allied with the company, it's no contest. CWA and, to a lesser extent, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), could free Democrats to vote for a free and open Internet. But in a demonstration of the Stockholm syndrome, they won't. Consider two quotations. Here's the first: "The network builders are spending a fortune constructing and maintaining the networks that Google intends to ride on with nothing but cheap servers ... It is enjoying a free lunch that should, by any rational account, be the lunch of the facilities providers." Here's the second: "Companies building networks plan to recoup their investment in high-speed Internet from their video product. Amazon, Google and others don't want owners of the network to be able to do this. They say this is 'discrimination.' Google, Amazon and others want to send their content over the networks for free." Which one was spoken by a representative of the union, and which by a representative of a telephone company?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/art-brodsky/union-busting-cwa-holds-_b_554...