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Verizon To Cut Thousands Of IBEW Jobs November 18, 2002 Hundreds of IBEW members are likely casualties of a Verizon decision to continue reducing its workforce nationwide. The cuts will be in the states that formerly comprised phone company Bell Atlantic, which combined with GTE to form Verizon in 2000. The company has blamed a flagging market for traditional telephone service, high corporate debt and the sluggish economy for the cuts. In New England, nearly half of the 2,000 IBEW jobs Verizon declared as surplus in September are likely to be announced as layoffs. Boston Local 2222 Business Manager Myles Calvey, who is System Council T-6 chairman, said the bad news was anticipated. Efforts to shed the surplus jobs have pared only a fraction of the total. Those layoffsnumbering up to 950will affect System Council T-6 members throughout New England, including those in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Maine and Vermont. Calvey said the largest phone company in the country has long been downsizing, emphasizing its wireless business at the expense of the traditional land line units where IBEW members have had a dominant presence. A 90-minute rally in downtown Boston attended by hundreds of workers and labor leaders protested on Thursday night Verizons first Boston-area layoffs since the 1970s. Verizon reported a $4.4 billion net profit for the third quarter and pays its top executives extremely well. Labors frustration with the plight of Verizon workers was evident in speeches recalling a 17-week strike against what was then Nynex in 1989. Verizons current labor contract expires next August. "1989 sent a message all across this company. ... The CWA and the IBEW will not be beaten in Boston by them or anybody else," said IBEW Second District Vice President Frank Carroll at the rally. In New York state, Verizon is trimming its workforce by 10 percent. Of the 3,800 jobs targeted, IBEW Local 2213 predicts 176 will be jobs held by its members. "Its doom and gloom right now," said Syracuse Local 2213 Business Manager Mary Jo Arcuri, whose local serves telecommunications workers across upstate New York. "Our members are very nervous. Theyre scared." Local 2213 represents customer service representatives and coin collectors for public phones. The workforce is young, so early retirement incentives do not appeal to the workers, said President Brenda Kuchey. The layoffs come in the months before the local is scheduled to begin negotiating another three-year contract. The current agreement expires in August 2003. At Local 827, East Windsor, New Jersey, Business Manager Dominic Turdo said 44 members were laid off last week and 29 workers employed by Verizon Connected Solutions, a Verizon subsidiary, will be laid off effective November 15. Company officials have warned that another layoff is likely in early December, Turdo said. "We could be talking layoffs of over 500 people," he said of recent job losses throughout New Jersey. "Weve lost over 1,700 people in the last year." The losses leave Local 827 with 7,788 Verizon workers statewide and 355 at Verizon Connected Solutions. Turdo said the local has taken the company to federal court for violating the agreement forged following the 2000 merger. He said Verizon is claiming the economy as an "external event," justifying layoffs. Local 827 will also pursue the company for the violations in arbitration. "Theyre beating us up pretty good but were fighting back," Turdo said. "We are taking every angle we can to combat these violations. I think it all comes down to corporate greed."
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