By Brian Fung
Verizon's worker strike is about to enter its second week as tens of thousands of employees, outraged about the telecom giant's efforts to outsource jobs and redeploy labor from one part of the country to another, remain on the picket line. With seemingly no resolution in sight, Verizon's landline and FiOS customers who phone in seeking help are, for the moment, being routed to contractors or management employees who've been detailed to company call centers temporarily.
But a decision Verizon made at least two years ago to cut the human out of many customer interactions is blunting some of the strike's effects, company executives say. The technology-driven shift - from hold music and long wait times toward instant, digital self-service - could give Verizon a greater ability to withstand one of the biggest walk-offs in company history. And that may have implications for continuing negotiations between union leaders and management.