Big Win for CWA On Broadband In Syracuse, NY!

With CWA’s help, Verizon won a major bid in the Syracuse area for broadband buildout.

The American Rescue Plan, a $1.9 trillion stimulus package, was signed into law by President Biden in 2021 in order to help stimulate American manufacturing and job creation - including funding for broadband expansion. As part of this funding, Onondaga County, NY received $11.1 million in funding to expand broadband in underserved rural areas, and accepted bids from telecom companies to do his work. CWA Legislative & Political Action Team members in New York fought for rules that ensured that companies had to pay prevailing wage and follow strong labor standards so that taxpayer money is not wasted on unskilled, low-road contractors taking our work.

CWA supported Verizon’s bid to get this work. “On behalf of our members, we are pleased to offer our endorsement of Verizon’s bid to work with Onondaga County and build a state-of-the-art fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) network to unserved and underserved locations in the County,” said CWA District 1 VP Dennis G. Trainor. “Verizon has unparalleled experience in FTTP broadband in Onondaga County and has a directly employed, highly skilled and well-trained union workforce with a proven track record of delivering broadband service with incredible speed, reliability and quality to New Yorkers.”

Onondaga County selected Verizon for this work, and Verizon committed nearly $7 million in addition to the $11.1 million in federal funding to bring all-fiber, high-speed broadband services to over 1,500 locations in the County. This means more work for our members in Central New York!

CWA members know better than anyone that there are many communities with poor or no broadband infrastructure, and CWA members are the best positioned to do the work building broadband and getting our communities connected. 

And this is just the beginning - with millions of dollars in federal broadband funding in the pipeline, we need to fight to ensure that this money goes to work for our members!

Read more here!