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.