As interpreters take their case to the FCC, Ariel-owned Sorenson commits to fight unionization

Late last month, interpreters who work for Ariel-owned Sorenson Communications and Teleperformance-owned ZP Better Together gathered with Texas Congressman Greg Casar for a press conference in front of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)’s Washington, DC office.

The press conference was organized by interpreters who have been organizing a union with Office and Professional Employees’ International Union (OPEIU) and seeking to meet with private equity-owned providers of Video Relay Service (VRS) since September. VRS is an FCC regulated service that allows users to make phone calls with an interpreter on video to translate between hearing and deaf individuals. OPEIU has sought to meet with VRS providers about improving working conditions and service quality to deaf clients, though the VRS providers have so far refused to meet.

Rep. Casar opened the conference by retelling his own journey of learning about the plight of the Deaf Community and American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters that work for VRS providers and phrased the ongoing labor dispute as a tale of corporate greed.

“Your lives and your career are not a piggy bank for some Wall Street billionaire,” referencing the private equity ownership of Sorenson and ZP.

Casar noted that a healthy VRS system is important to his neighbors and constituents, noting “there is plenty of money to do it. The question is, is it going to go to the interpreters and their clients . . . or is it going to go to the profits of a few extra-wealthy people?”

The congressman called for the FCC to hold a first-of-its-kind public meeting where interpreters and users of VRS can tell the FCC Commissioners about the issues they are facing and said that “we are going to have that public meeting thanks to your organizing.” Such a meeting could lead to the FCC improving VRS regulations or requiring certain reporting from VRS providers around service quality and employment practices.

The FCC currently regulates the industry for certain quality measures and reimburses VRS providers for every minute interpreters work, totalling over $600 million annually.^[1] While VRS providers such as Sorenson have well funded government relations departments who regularly lobby the FCC on regulatory issues that benefit the company, it is only recently that the FCC has begun to hear from a broad group of VRS interpreters and users about the issues they are experiencing.

In a statement to The Daily Moth, Sorenson Chief Relationship Officer Wendy Adams said that “Sorenson is working to remain free of third-party representation.” This is the first time that Sorenson has publicly made such a statement, generally understood to mean that the company is working to remain union-free.

Sorenson also took issue with the statement that two companies dominate the VRS market, by noting that there are five active VRS companies, not two. However, Sorenson remains the dominant company in the market and the two largest companies retain the overwhelming majority of the VRS market share.^[2]

Sorenson also disputed a statement that interpreters only have five seconds between calls, highlighting that interpreters have a minimum of 15 seconds between calls and noting that they provided over 30,000 hours of professional development to over 4,000 employees in 2024. This amounts to an average of 7.5 hours of professional development per worker per year for 4,000 of the 6,000 Sorenson interpreters. The term “professional development” was not defined in the response and there was no explanation about why one third of interpreters did not receive professional development in 2024.

Sorenson also stated that interpreters have received “eight pay increases in two years,” a contention that interpreters who attended the press conference dispute. Interpreters had a very different description of Sorenson’s practices and the interpreters’ union released a detailed statement contradicting Sorenson’s claims, including screenshots of interpreters’ pay history.

Meg, an interpreter who has worked at Sorenson for 10 years, discussed the struggles her daughter, who is deaf, has had using VRS because of what she described as “detrimental business practices.” She described the cause of unionization at Sorenson as one that goes beyond wages and benefits:

“It’s about dignity, justice, and the future of equitable communication for deaf Americans. . . . Companies lean heavily on our skills, but refuse to support our needs, reaping all the profits that we have earned laboring for them. . . . Unionization is not just about interpreters. It’s about protecting the integrity of our VRS system and our deaf consumers rights. My family’s rights. A stable satisfied workforce ensures consistent high quality service. Without it we will continue to risk a revolving door of interpreters compromising the very standards of communication that the FCC has pledged to deaf citizens to uphold.”

Felix, an interpreter employed at ZP Better Together echoed Meg’s comments, stating that “The way VRS companies are currently being run leaves interpreters exhausted and ultimately impacts the quality of service we can provide for the deaf community,” noting that under private equity ownership, things have gotten worse.

ZP Better Together was recently sold by private equity firms Kinderhook and Carlyle to a French company, Teleperformance, which has yet to meet with interpreters. Sorenson’s two private equity owners, Ariel Alternatives and Blackstone have also refused to meet with interpreters.

Given the serious nature of the issues that interpreters are bringing forward, it is unclear why VRS providers are refusing to meet with their employees’ union. Investors should be concerned about the risks associated with an ongoing labor dispute, reputational risks, and additional FCC action against Sorenson, lower reimbursement rates, or enactment of more strict requirements of VRS providers. Ariel manages significant assets for a number of institutional investors such as public pension funds, who may be concerned with using an asset manager associated with poor labor practices and union busting.

^[1] Interstate Telecommunications Relay Services Fund Payment Formula and Fund Size Estimate Supplemental Comment, Exhibit 2. Federal Communications Commission. June 17, 2024.https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/1061792927674/3

^[2] The FCC stated in 2021 that “one provider, Sorenson Communications, Inc. (Sorenson), dominat[es] the market,” estimating that as recently as 2014, “Sorenson provides about 80% of the VRS minutes logged every month, and its two principal competitors each provide another five to ten percent”. Under private equity ownership, the “two principal competitors,” ZVRS and Purple, combined to form ZP Better Together in 2017. In 2023, Sorenson acquired the customers of a smaller VRS provider, GlobalVRS.