WASHINGTON -- Deutsche Telekom AG's proposed acquisition of VoiceStream Wireless Corp. will get a boost Thursday from unions and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, two usually bitter opponents.
Communication Workers of America President Morton Bahr, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney and Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue have scheduled a news conference to urge lawmakers to sweep away the biggest cloud hanging over the $50 billion deal: a measure on Capitol Hill that would make it harder for companies owned partly by foreign governments to acquire U.S. telecommunications companies.
The amendment to an appropriations bill would forbid the Federal Communications Commission from waiving a U.S. law that prohibits companies more than 25%-owned by a foreign government from acquiring a domestic communications license. Without an FCC waiver, the Deutsche Telekom-VoiceStream deal would die.
Lawmakers already are leaning toward dropping the amendment, which is sponsored by GOP Sen. Ernest F. Hollings of South Carolina. Deutsche Telekom is 58% owned by the German government, which has promised to eventually sell off its entire stake.
Close Relationship With Unions
Union officials said they are backing the deal because Deutsche Telekom enjoys a close relationship with its unions and has a reputation as friendly to workers and unions.
"Deutsche Telekom owning VoiceStream would allow the company to grow and create new jobs in this country, and it could teach U.S. telecommunications companies a lesson about how to treat their workers and how to treat their unions," the CWA's Mr. Bahr said.
For its part, the Chamber of Commerce believes current protections are adequate. "If we make a whole series of rules to keep the U.S. out of the global market, the rest of the world will gladly leave us behind," Mr. Donohue said.
Though the Chamber's participation in today's event was expected, the unions' support of such a deal, and their willingness to share a stage with the business group, surprised many observers.
"To take the stage like this represents a sea change from tilting at the windmills of globalization to recognizing that elements of a global economy are in the interests of their members and in the interests of the unions themselves," said Todd Malan, the executive director of the Organization for International Investment, a trade association representing U.S. subsidiaries of foreign companies.
Still, unions haven't always been so amenable to the idea of foreign ownership of U.S. companies, according to Mira Wilkins, a professor at Florida International University who studies foreign investment.
Protest in 1975
When French mining company Societe Imetel made a hostile offer in 1975 for Copperweld Corp., a specialty steel company, union members protested. Imetel eventually acquired the company anyway.
The unions' willingness to join forces with the Chamber mirrors a shift in union thinking about immigration.
For years, the AFL-CIO pushed for harsh sanctions against companies that hired illegal aliens, fearing that a flood of legalized immigrants would drive down U.S. wages.
But with union ranks swelling with immigrants -- many undocumented -- union leaders have joined business groups in calling for a blanket amnesty for the estimated five million undocumented workers in the U.S.
The two sides argue that amid one of the tightest labor markets in American history, the government should make it easier for foreign workers to take jobs that might otherwise remain unfilled, threatening economic growth.
Uncertain Future
In any event, the unions' decision to join forces with the Chamber may all but ensure the demise of the Hollings amendment.
Both sides have devoted their considerable lobbying muscle toward stripping out the amendment, which was already facing an uncertain future.
Last week, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott of Mississippi said the measure should be dropped from a spending bill funding the Commerce, State and Justice departments. Mr. Lott co-sponsored a similar, free-standing bill.
For his part, Sen. Hollings said that "we didn't deregulate the telecommunications market to put it under German government control." A spokesman for the senator declined to comment on the amendment's fate.
Write to Yochi J. Dreazen at yochi.dreazen@wsj.com |
