North Carolina-based FairPoint Communications has struggled since acquiring the landline network of the much-larger Verizon. Here’s a look at major events in the company’s history in Maine, starting with that acquisition:
Jan. 17, 2007: Verizon announces $2.7 billion sale of its residential telephone business in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont to FairPoint Communications.
Jan. 4, 2008: The Maine Public Utilities Commission approves the sale, despite opposition from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the Communication Workers of America. The unions argued the company didn’t have the financial resources to keep up obligations to workers and customers.
March 31, 2008: The Verizon deal closes, and FairPoint’s landline business grows sixfold overnight. Verizon took some of its back-end systems in the sale, which contributed to service quality issues.
Oct. 26, 2009: FairPoint files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, seeking to reorganize its debt.
Dec. 1, 2009: The Maine Public Utilities Commission orders FairPoint to lower its rates, amounting to $11 million in customer rebates for not meeting service quality standards.
Jan. 13, 2011: FairPoint gains court approval for its bankruptcy reorganization, giving it another try at running northern New England’s major landline networks.
March 23, 2012: Arbitrator sides with unions in a complaint over the company outsourcing union jobs to a non-union Canadian firm in 2009 and then transferring the work to another non-union subcontractor in New York.
February 2012: FairPoint loses an appeal of the arbitrator’s ruling in Maine District Court.
Nov. 20, 2013: FairPoint loses second appeal of arbitrator’s ruling in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston.
July 19, 2014: Northern New England unions authorize a strike.
Aug. 2, 2014: Contracts for IBEW and CWA workers expire.
Aug. 29, 2014: FairPoint declares an impasse in contract negotiations with the IBEW and CWA. The unions fire back with a complaint to the National Labor Relations Board, one of four filed in the year.
Oct. 14, 2014: The company freezes pensions and opens enrollment for a more expensive new health care plan.
Oct. 17, 2014: About 800 FairPoint workers in Maine and 1,200 in New Hampshire and Vermont go on strike.