June 29, 2005

Ivan can't hear you now

"Can't Hear
  Me Now?
  Too Bad."

It's not just Verizon Wireless employees who get the brush-off—or worse—from the company. Ivan Seidenberg (who is the chairman of Verizon Wireless in addition to being the CEO and chairman of Verizon Communications) says wireless customers who don't get good reception should just stop complaining.

In a newspaper interview,* Seidenberg said that customers expect too much:

 

"'Why in the world would you think your (cell) phone would work in your house?'" he said. "'The customer has come to expect so much. They want it to work in the elevator; they want it to work in the basement.'"


(Well . . . yeah. Isn't that the point of all those "Can you hear me now?" ads, where the test guy always gets a signal, whether out in the middle of nowhere or inside a building?)

So, what if customers want to know where they can get a signal before they sign up? Verizon Wireless isn't going to tell them:

 

"Seidenberg said it's not Verizon's responsibility to correct the misconception by giving out statistics on how often Verizon's service works inside homes or by distributing more detailed coverage maps, showing all the possible dead zones."

And if they decide to try it out, then find that they can't get reception when they need it? It'll cost them.

 

"Seidenberg also defended the company's stiff cancellation fees and tighter return policy."

For 10 years, Verizon Wireless has been fighting employees' efforts to have a voice on the job. Looks like the company doesn't want to hear from its customers, either.

*Interview in the San Francisco Chronicle, “Verizon CEO Sounds Off on Wi-Fi, Customer Gripes,” April 16, 2005

 

Can't Hear Me Now? Too Bad.Union activists will be distributing a flyer sharing Seidenberg's remarks with Verizon Wireless customers. 

You can download the flyer here [Acrobat 136K]

VZ Contracting Out FiOS Video Tech Jobs

The company has informed us that it has contracted out video central office work—technical jobs at video "super headends" and "hubs"—to Motorola without making plans to move the work to the union.

The two super headends (located in Temple Terrace, FL, and Bloomington, IL) will receive video signals via satellite (this will be subscription TV content—what we think of as the cable channels today) and then send the content out over fiber to video hubs. While there aren't a large number of jobs at stake—about 10 at each video super headend—they are important tech jobs.

In addition, in each metro area there will be a video hub covering a 40-mile radius. These hubs will generally not be co-located with traditional COs, with the exception of NY. The hubs will receive the "cable" channels from the super headends as well as local broadcast channels via satellite. The video content will then be distributed to FiOS customers. Each hub will be staffed by 5-10 people to provide 24x7 coverage.

Verizon says that Motorola will run this network for 18 months and then Verizon will possibly bring the work in-house. Unfortunately, we've heard that song before. When DSL was a new service, Verizon told us that tech support jobs would be contracted initially but would probably be brought back in. Instead, DSL tech support has grown to 3,000 jobs which are still contracted out to vendors in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and the Phillippines.

Services that Verizon will sell over fiber-to-the-prem represent the next iteration of telecom services. Just as we have followed the work in the past as it moved from analog to digital and as new technology made new features possible, we should have jurisdiction over this latest technology. This is important work that should belong to the workers who built the company and make it possible to provide video services.

"How Can They Sleep at Night?"

Kara DeWitt addressing rally
Kara DeWitt (shown with her husband and daughters and CWA Local 1298 President Paul Hongo) told the crowd about VZW's family un-friendly policies.

IBEW and CWA members and allies rallied at Verizon Wireless in Meriden, Connecticut, to protest the company's treatment of former service rep Kara DeWitt.

Kara was fired for using two additional days of sick leave after she had exhausted her allotment caring for her children while her husband was stationed in Iraq. (Dale has returned home safely.) Though Kara, a four-year employee, had earned an award for outstanding customer service just two weeks before she was fired, Verizon Wireless wouldn't allow her to use vacation time to cover the additional sick time.

Updates:

  • Verizon Wireless still has made no move to reinstate Kara.
  • Kara's Congresswoman, Rosa DeLauro, has asked Verizon Wireless to reassess Kara's case, noting that while her husband was serving in Iraq, Kara was "a mother struggling to balance work and family responsibilities on her own." 

"Something Out of Dickens"
Thanks to all of you who've sent messages to Working Mother magazine to tell them that Verizon Wireless doesn't deserve a place on their "100 Best" list.

Here are some of the comments you added to your letters:

Please start a "100 Worst" and move Verizon to that list!
Verizon Wireless should rehire this woman immediately!
Verizon's cowardly action toward this struggling mother, shows the intolerance and meaness of their management team. Kara could have used her vacation, an earned benefit, but was not given the opportunity.
Shame on you, Verizon!
No one should have to choose between a healthy family and a paycheck. As women fill most family caregiving needs, it is critical that employers implement policies that enable women to meet their responsibilities at home without losing their jobs. Companies on Working Mother's "100 Best" list should be the model for this and, apparently, Verizon is not.

How dare they treat Kara DeWitt this way?! How can they sleep at night knowing what they've done to her?

I am tired of the corporate world talking about how much they "support the troops". I am opposed to the war, but anyone employed by the government, especially in a non-high-paying job, should not have their family treated like this.

Companies should respect good service enough that they can work something out when someone legitimately needs time off to get well.

A company that has so little willingness to work with a parent with legitimate reasons for missing work (pinkeye is highly contagious!) certainly does not deserve to be named one of the "100 Best," and I urge you to cross the company off your list.
One of the most difficult things is to be a working mother. I walked in Kara's shoes for many years.
Verizon Wireless's treatment of Kara DeWitt reads like something out of Dickens, not out of Working Mother magazine.

This unfeeling action reflects disgrace on a company that tries to show its best community support face in its ads.

Companies today seem to tout family values and act like they're concerned and yet act indifferently and callously to their employees.

For more information, read the New Haven Register's coverage of this story, "Soldier's Wife Fired After Struggling to Mind the Homefront," May 1, 2005 (free registration required).

Corporate Welfare
NJ Welcome Wagon Gives Verizon $80 Million

When you move to a new place, the neighborhood welcome wagon might stop by with a plate of home-baked cookies, advice on the best dry cleaner, and the date of the PTA potluck. 
 
When Verizon announced it was looking to move its corporate HQ out of New York City, the New Jersey state government offered up a somewhat more extravagant gift: $80 million in corporate tax breaks. 
 
The huge taxpayer-funded windfall was supposed to help lure Verizon jobs to New Jersey. (Virginia was also in the running.) But less than 2 years ago Verizon Wireless moved hundreds of jobs out of New Jersey. VZW closed its Morristown call center and shifted the work to N. Carolina. (The closing came just as an organizing drive was gaining significant momentum at the call center. Quite the coincidence.)
 
Research group New Jersey Policy Perspective questioned whether the tax breaks are a good deal for taxpayers, and "whether the state should be so heavily invested in handing out money to businesses, especially at a time of state financial crisis when funding for many programs is being cut."
 
(Those funding cuts are also affecting 40,000 CWAers employed by the state who are currently fighting to protect their pensions and healthcare.)
 

Strigl Patrol Rides Again

Denny Strigl can't hide. The latest Strigl Patrol event was a demonstration at the annual meeting of Anadigics, a small technology company where he serves on the board of directors.

CWA & IBEW members demonstrated outside the meeting in Warren, NJ, to publicize union-busting at VZW.

After the rally, a Verizon Wireless HR employee approached the group and told them that VZW isn't anti-union, it's "pro-employee." (Right, as long as employees don't ask for a voice on the job or a signed contract like the ones the execs get.)

"We told her to pass along a message to Denny, that we will never go away, whether in the NY Times [see below], on the street, etc., and that, one way or another, he would have to deal with us."

Activists brought along copy of the newspaper ad that highlighted the concerns of 123 members of Congress who wrote to Ivan Seidenberg about VZW's conduct toward employees. See more photos.

 

Corporate Greed Watch: Lost in the Bermuda Triangle
VZW Dodges Millions in Mass. Taxes

How'd you like to see your property tax bill drop by 99.7%?  Pipe dream, right?  Not if you're Verizon Wireless. VZW's bill in Boston did just that, falling from $3 million a year to just $9,307. 

 
Verizon Wireless dodged millions in property taxes by shifting ownership of assets located in Massachusetts to a Bermuda-based subsidiary.

VZW exploited a loophole in Massachusetts law and shifted legal ownership of some assets to a Bermuda-based corporation, thus shielding them from property tax.

CWA testified at a public hearing on the loophole, along with outraged community and political leaders from across the state. CWA called on legislators to deal with deadbeat telecom taxpayers: "When the property taxes of Verizon Wireless disappear into the Bermuda Triangle, cities like Boston lose revenue and the increased tax burden gets shifted to tens of thousands of small businesses and individual homeowners."

The company has already threatened to raise rates if the loophole is closed, blaming legislators for a "back-door" tax increase on consumers. Let's see: Verizon Wireless didn't hand out rebate checks to its customers when it stopped paying its full property taxes, but customers should foot the bill for reinstating the taxes? We've got another idea: Verizon Wireless takes the miniscule hit (0.06%) to its $4.7 billion profit and pay its fair share.

Web Links in This Issue:

"Telcom Giant Dials 'M' for Money and New Jersey Picks Up the Charges": http://www.njpp.org/rpt_telcom.html

"Can't Hear Me Now? Too Bad." flyer:  http://files.cwa-union.org/National/verizon/CantHear.pdf [Acrobat 136K]

New Haven Register article about Kara DeWitt (free registration required): http://www.nhregister.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=14448497&BRD=1281&PAG=461&dept_id=517515&rfi=8&xb=cenad

Mobilization photos and video clips: http://www.cwa-union.org/verizon/photos

Visit Unity@Verizon on the web for more:

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(What's happening in your area?
Send information and photos to unityatverizon@cwa-union.org and we'll publish them here.)

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