The Communications Workers of America (CWA) union has warned the FCC that T-Mobile’s proposed acquisition of Sprint could result in 30,000 employees losing their jobs.

This is in contrast to comments by T-Mobile and Sprint executives who have touted not only competitive benefits in the marketplace from the consolidation of the nation’s third and fourth largest wireless carriers, but have also promised the deal would actually create new jobs.

Specifically, CWA’s analysis finds the merger would kill 25,500 jobs from the elimination of retail stores and another 4,500 job cuts related to duplicate headquarter positions.

In reply comments filed Oct. 31 with the FCC, CWA said that T-Mobile and Sprint’s claim that the union’s job loss analysis did not account for expanded staffing at stores that would stay open and new stores in rural areas post-merger is “demonstrably false.”

“CWA’s analysis clearly (and repeatedly) addressed expanded staffing at surviving stores and in rural areas. Moreover, Applicants do not rebut CWA’s estimate of the number of jobs that would be eliminated as a result of the proposed transaction, nor do they provide alternative detailed calculations,” CWA said in its filing. “The omission is hardly accidental, as the Applicants have publicly suggested, even after CWA’s comments were filed, that store closures are likely if the merger takes place.”