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PCCA Journal|4

th

Quarter 2010

14

says that Apple TV hopes to capi-

talize on its loyal and enthusiastic

customer base to fill a void that cur-

rently exists in the market. “Like the

music industry prior to iTunes and

the iPod, the online premium video

market still lacks a perfect provider

that can connect a service with a

device to create a great user experi-

ence,” Wu said. “With its new and

improved TV product, Apple is now

preparing itself to repeat the success

it has had in the music business in

the rapidly growing online premium

video market.”

NLRB Sides with Unions

in Two Key Decisions

T

he Coalition for a Democratic

Workplace (CDW) reported

that over the Labor Day

weekend the National Labor

Relations Board (NLRB) was qui-

etly moving to circumvent the right

of workers to secret ballot elec-

tions. CDW said its review of critical

pending cases has revealed concrete

examples of the NLRB’s efforts to

implement card-check and curb

worker free speech.

“The board’s latest actions

validate what CDW has said all

along: Craig Becker’s recess ap-

pointment means that the board can

move autonomously to promote card

check without the need to pass the

unpopular Employee Free Choice

Act,” CDW Chairman Brian Worth

said.

Decisions in two key cases, an-

nounced in early September by

the board, underscore the effort to

undermine workplace democracy:

In Rite Aid Store #6473, the NLRB

announced that it will revisit the

2007 Dana Corp. decision, which

provided important protections to

employees facing so called “volun-

tary” card-check agreements.

In the second decision, Indepen-

dence Residences, Inc., the board

refused to set aside a union repre-

sentation election where New York

state had unlawfully limited the

employers’—but not the unions’—

ability to communicate with em-

ployees about the advantages or

disadvantages of unionization.

In both cases, Republican board

members Peter Schaumber and Brian

Hayes filed vigorous dissents.

“It’s critical that Big Labor’s

back-door attempt to advance the

principles of EFCA through NLRB

decisions be exposed,” Worth said.

“These cases are just a few examples

of how union bosses will push an

agenda that sacrifices the rights of

employees and job creators at the

altar of forced unionization by any

means possible.”

News Briefs

Continued from page 13

R

eflecting the evolution of performance

standards and goals for broadband, the

Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

has updated and released its latest report

on internet access service subscribership to better

monitor these trends.

Titled “Internet Access Services: Status as of

June 2009,” the new report includes for the first

time detailed data on the number of internet con-

nections at speeds that approximate the national

broadband availability target recommended by the

National Broadband Plan. The report also focuses

on multiple and higher speed tiers, rather than on

the commission’s historical categories of “high

speed” (any internet connection with speeds over

200 kilobits per second downstream) or “advanced

services.”

Report highlights include the following, as of

June 2009:

Out of a total of 71 million fixed—as opposed

to mobile—connections to households, only 44

percent met or exceeded the speed tier that most

closely approximates the universal availability

target set in the National Broadband Plan of 4

megabits per second (Mbps) downstream and 1

Mbps upstream,

The number of mobile wireless service sub-

scribers with data plans for full internet access

increased by 40 percent over the first six months

of 2009, to 35 million,

Cable modem connections increased by 3 percent

to 41 million and aDSL by 1 percent to 31 million

in the first six months of 2009,

A 23 percent increase in fiber connections, to 4

million, was the largest rate of increase among

fixed-location technologies, and

Satellite internet connections increased by 6 per-

cent to 1 million.

The data are based on information submitted

to the FCC every six months by providers on FCC

Form 477. The full report can be downloaded at

www.fcc.gov/wcb/stats.

FCC Releases New Data on Internet Access Services