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NEW YORK -- Verizon Communications Inc. expects to cut the equivalent of 10,000 jobs this year, mostly by not filling vacancies and cutting overtime and the use of contractors. But some layoffs are possible at the nation's largest local phone company. Verizon to cut
10,000 jobs but
says no Hawaii
layoffs plannedFrom staff and wire reports
The reduction in Verizon's core telephone operations is part of an ongoing effort to eliminate positions duplicated by last year's purchase of GTE and meet the cost-savings goals made possible by that merger, a spokesman said today.
"We expect to cut a great deal of the positions through retirements and normal attrition. When you've got 260,000 people, you have people come and go," spokesman Eric Rabe said today at Verizon's annual meeting with analysts in New York.
About 6,000 of the 10,000 job cuts are expected to come from attrition.
The remainder would be achieved by cutting 4,000 "full-time equivalents," meaning that overtime and contractor hires would be reduced by that number of 40-hour work weeks.
"We have laid out the possibility where there may be some layoffs, but there's no plan for any widespread layoffs," Rabe said.
"A lot of businesses have announced significant work force reductions, and that is not what is going on here. This is part of the normal business as we merge these two companies."
No layoffs are planned in Hawaii, said Brian Blevins, a spokesman for Verizon Hawaii, formerly known as GTE Hawaiian Tel.
From time to time, vacancies in Hawaii have not been filled. That may happen again, but there will be no direct impact in Hawaii from today's announcement, he said.
Blevins said the company continues to monitor its work force to balance the need to control costs and be competitive with maintaining high service quality.
Also today, Verizon announced plans to provide global communications services for big business customers by assembling a network linking the United States with major cities in Europe, Asia and Latin America.
Verizon said it will acquire fiber-optic cable, switching and transmission equipment and related network management software for a high-speed network that can carry data, Internet and voice traffic.
The first phase, scheduled to begin operations in the second quarter, will link New York to London, Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Frankfurt and Milan. Links between New York and Toronto and between Hawaii, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Sydney are already operating and will be part of the new network.