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Opinion: Verizon leaves American workers in the lurch [telecom]

Opinion: Joe Guzzardi

The headline financial news story of late is Verizon's announcement that it offered a voluntary severance package to about 44,000 employees, or about one-third of its workforce. But the subtitle is equally disturbing: Verizon will transfer more than 2,500 jobs - some insiders peg the total at closer to 5,000 - to India-based Infosys as part of a $700 million outsourcing agreement. Thousands who were once Verizon employees will soon work for Infosys.

IT analysts know that Infosys has a history of eliminating benefits that transferred employees enjoyed and that the company will eventually displace them with lower-cost Indian nationals. Verizon is candid about its goals if not its methods: By 2021, the wireless carrier hopes to slash $10 billion from its total $114 billion debt load.

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Reply to
Bill Horne
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I've noticed that both Verizon and Comcast employ a lot of outside contractors for both work on pole lines and customer home visits. While contractors usually get a higher pay rate, they get zero benefits and are only paid when called in to work, no pay for off times. No vacation or sick pay, no help for health care costs.

In my opinion, the contractors are not as well trained or as good a worker as traditional full time permanent staff. In my own experiences, they were rude and incompetent.

Comcast launched a big ad campaign claiming it is restoring its customer service and hiring lots of technicians and customer service agents. I don't buy it.

Reply to
HAncock4

In the past, the Bell System was proud that multiple generations of a family would work for the telephone company:

1951--35 members of her family worked for Bell.
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1953--military veteran returns home to telephone family
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1953--59 years of family telephone service
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1953--Mothers and daughters doing fine--working together at switchboards
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1957 This Way Son--Western Electric training
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Another old company that proudly advertised multiple generations working for it was Studebaker: 1948--father son team

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Reply to
HAncock4

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