When the Sprint and T-Mobile revealed their decision to merge earlier this spring, the announcement came with a promise that the new company would “employ more people than both companies separately.”
But a study released Monday shows that it could come with lower wages for retail workers in the entire industry, even affecting those who don’t work at the two companies.
Should the merger be approved, the majority of retail workers in the wireless service industry would see their weekly earnings drop by 1% to 3%, but could decline as much as 7%, according to a study released Monday. The effect would also reach retail employees at authorized dealers and its competitors Verizon and AT&T.
The study was done by Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit and nonpartisan group that aims to include low- and middle-income workers in policy discussions, as a way to draw attention to how the merger would trickle down.
While the companies promised more opportunities for work overall, the Communications Workers of America argue the merger will cost 28,000 jobs.
While the deal between Sprint and T-Mobile has been approved by a national security panel, the Wall Street Journal reports, it still must gain approval from the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice.