Most large layoffs, if you look to the past, 2014, 12, 09, 02, they've all had some news coverage associated with them, some had a lot. Mainly due to regulatory requirements of notification to federal agencies. The only places I've seen anything on these "huge layoffs" is on forums. Yes there are some rifs going on in Verizon, I've known some hit, but this happens in every IT company I've worked for about twice a year, EVERY year, an ongoing quarterly cycle. Sadly and most troublesome is they always occur in the fall around the holidays, ensuring everyone in every corporate white collar position will keep their spending in check, essentials only because no one is truly safe.
Does corporate America realize their need for year end stock price bumps inadvertently throttles the very fuel source running their economic engine? Do they care? I suspect not, I suspect the short term gains realized at the expense of those deemed expendable, in the shortsighted spectrum of "as long as I have mine" will prevail.
I long for the day where corporate decision makers are graded negatively for every employee they lay off, direct charges to pay, bonuses and golden parachutes should be part of a corporate grading system, rifing employees should be a sign of making poor choices in prior quarters, not as a fail-safe way to bump stock price. Executive at all levels should not reap bonuses by harvesting employee's salaries and benefits, this stock manipulation ploy should be monitored by the SEC.
At this point in time, at Verizon, it's constant change, business as usual.