By Eileen Buckley
Buffalo, NY – US Congressman Tom Reynolds wants to make sure any potential buyers of Adelphia Communications keep the local workforce intact. He appeared outside the Adelphia offices on Chicago Street in Buffalo Tuesday to explain.
Reynolds says he has written letters to the nation's top ten cable companies who may consider buying Adelphia. Reynolds says while it is at a very early stage, he wants the companies to known this region has highly skilled workers who should be retained.
"I want them to know that Adelphia has outstanding employees, and Buffalo is a very good place for call centers and other type of technology we already have a lot of in Western New York," Reynolds said.
Adelphia employs about 1,700 workers in Western New York. Reynolds says while he's not aware of of any companies interest in Adelphia at this point, both Time-Warner and Comcast have been very aggressive in recent acquisitions. But he will keep a close watch on all activity.
"The complexity of this company, and the bankruptcy of Adelphia makes this a tricky acquisition," Reynolds said. "I think we have to watch closely as interest comes in and some of that will be private between the corporations. But I think it is time to get aggressive from our community to let them know that we want to keep the jobs we have and also see what other prospects it brings us."
Reynolds says he will "stand ready" on the federal side to work with any company that ends up purchasing Adelphia in an effort to protect local jobs.