PORTLAND (AP) – Regulatory hearings on the sale of Verizon’s phone network in Maine and the rest of northern New England are months away, but the role that workers will play in the proceedings is still up in the air.

Hundreds of union members rallied last weekend in Portland to protest the $2.7 billion sale to FairPoint Communications, which requires state Public Utilities Commission approval. The PUC must consider rates and quality of service in making its decision.

Verizon is the dominant phone company in the region, and its proposed sale to Charlotte, N.C.-based FairPoint includes 1.6 million local access lines in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.

Last week, FairPoint filed a memo with the PUC, asking that subjects the unions can bring up at the hearings be limited to labor and employment issues. The unions are contending that the sale is bad for consumers because FairPoint is too small and undercapitalized to maintain and expand Verizon’s network. Dozens of parties have filed as interveners in the case.

FairPoint has promised to expand broadband Internet service by installing high-speed DSL service over phone lines. FairPoint has also said it plans to add 600 new employees in three new call centers in northern New England.

Unions that represent 2,800 Verizon employees, including the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, are worried that the deal will hurt workers.

The unions say FairPoint’s size and lack of capital hinder its ability to serve rural areas that depend on high-speed Internet service for economic growth.

FairPoint says the unions represent only themselves and not the interest of consumers.

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Information from: Portland Press Herald, https://www.pressherald.com

AP-ES-03-06-07 1015EST