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More Verizon Layoffs Likely as Workers Mobilize for Negotiations May 21, 2003 Another round of layoffs at Verizon in New England may force as many as 350 more IBEW workers out of a job. The layoff announcement comes after the company declared 1,000 workers surplus and 650 members of Boston Local 2222 opted for early retirement. But the timing of the layoffs will coincide with scheduled talks to start in mid-June on a new national contract. The IBEW and Communications Workers of America (CWA) members are already preparing, including gearing up for a strike. The current agreement covering 80,000 IBEW and CWA members expires on August 2. "Right now were heavily into mobilization activities," said Dave Reardon, Local 2222 business agent. Also complicating matters is a pending arbitration decision on complaints filed by the IBEW and the CWA against Verizon over the last round of layoffs in December 2002. The unions say the companys claim that "external forces" were to blame for the conditions that led to the layoffs is a bogus characterization claimed only to trigger contract language that justified the surplus declaration. The unions argue that the reason the company wanted to shed jobs was to improve its bottom line after an unsuccessful foray into the long-distance market, Reardon said. If an arbitrator agrees with the unions, the pending layoffs as well as those in December could be in doubt. "If it comes back in the unions favor it will have a big impact on our case," Reardon said. "This is probably one of the biggest cases weve arbitrated in years." Meanwhile, even in the midst of an economic downturn, Verizon is not hurting financially. The company made $1.8 billion last quarter. Its top six executives have netted $396 million over the last four years. Reardon said it is likely that through a series of contractually mandated possibilities, such as identifying vacancies and eliminating contractors, possibly a third of the 350 jobs will be saved. Three years ago, the unions, representing workers across the Northeast, went on strike for two weeks before a new agreement was reached.
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Verizon To Cut Thousands Of IBEW Jobs...
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