Thread regarding Verizon Communications Inc. layoffs

The low down from a former manager (RIF'd in November)

I'm a RIF'd Verizon Wireline management employee with an additional 8 years in Wireless. The writing is on the wall. Last year, Verizon divested their landline networks in Florida, Texas and California. They RIF'd tens of thousand of employees of the wireless and the wireline side. They cut budgets, limited discretionary expenses, etc. the fact of the matter is that they hay day of telecom is over and the hay day of wireline networks is way over. Judgement is coming soon. Verizon Wireless announced that it will be testing 5G late last year. There are two reasons for this. First, they're looking fora differentiator as other companys' networks gay parity with Verizon's and threaten to set off a price war. The other factor is that Verizon would get rid of the northeast FiOS network of they could but the pension liability and unfavorable Union conditions make it I marketable. FiOS is the past. The company is not pushing expansion. They are just trying to tap every dollar they can get from it while it lasts. 5G will present them with an alternative. 5G, combined with over-the-top media delivery services like Go90 and the merger with AOL will allow them to create a wireless alternative to FiOS. This gives them their exit strategy from the CWA and will allow them to offload landline, even at a loss, because wireless will be able to compete with wireline services once the upgrades are deployed. Things are no rosier on the wireless side for employees. Increased reliance on third party retailers will continue to drive down the total number of corporate wireless stores as will increased reliance on Internet product delivery driven by gen X'ers and millennialis. This will continue to drive down total employment and overall wages, as will increasing reliance of foreign outsourcing.

Do yourselves a favor. Verizon is not the company it was ten years ago and it never will be again. There are great opportunities in other companies and industries. Start looking sooner rather than later. Find a company you can appreciate and that appreciates you.

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| 3020 views | | 21 replies (last March 12, 2016) | Reply
Post ID: @OP+Gh1hPHr

21 replies (most recent on top)

Op says fios is the past, then how come wherever i go thats all customers want to talk about ? millenials middle age elderly the number one question every verizon tech gets at work or off work is. "When am i going to be able to get fios". People are begging for. Whole towns in new jersey are begging for it. So i guess every wants the past. I guess soon people will be begging for horse and buggies and outhouses then !!!

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Post ID: @6wen+Gh1hPHr

People this manager is telling it like it is...after 25 years with AT&T and 7 with Verizon wireline this comment is totally on point! Thanks for your input!

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Post ID: @5wob+Gh1hPHr

Well said. I agree with everything you just wrote. Give it a couple of hours and you will see all do union members start defending why they're the best thing since sliced bread the company cancel five without them there is no future without them but how is it that all the companies have survived without the union employees. Is the mentality that these union people have that they feel that everything is supposed to be thiers. You can't touch my pension you can't touch my health insurance you can't you can't will guess what buddy the company can the company can do whatever the hell they want and provide you with what they feel is sufficient enough you don't run the company the company runs you in the sooner you realize it the sooner you will stop whining and get to work in just end this contract battle

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Post ID: @2duk+Gh1hPHr

No Shit wireless relies on fiber transport, all he is saying is VZ does not have to own or have union dummies maintaining it. FIOS is a regional offering. No one gives a crap about FIOS outside of the VZ wireline East coast footprint. Bellsouth was offering fiber to the curb long before VZ offered it to the side of the house. Its old technology so get over it. All this guy is saying is you better have a backup plan for when you get laid off or you take your buyout package, that's all. Once you realize that you are gonna get the contract that VZ wants to give you, not the one you want then you will realize you don't need to Union to bargain for you. Sure the union is good for representing you in a grievance and day to day stuff like that but the old days of mob like union bosses showing the company who's in charge are over. Its part of the wussification of this country in general. You can thank millennials with no balls who lived at home with mommy til they were well into their twenties for that. The union started getting soft around 2000 when the younger members were growing in numbers. Once the splicers lost power to the installers it was down hill from there. This country has gone soft. Everyone is offended by every politically incorrect thing now days. Gays are offended and want an apology, minorities are offended and want an apology even the police are offended by effen Beyonce half time show and demand a boycott LOL. What a bunch of pussies we have all become... So its every man for himself. Use the companies money to get an education then get a backup plan for your exit off this sinking ship..

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Post ID: @2soi+Gh1hPHr

Still there and trolling Verizon layoff sites. Way to inspire buddy.

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Post ID: @1dzg+Gh1hPHr

It's amazing a manager with "over 10 years" knows so much. Please

I've been around 25 years in this business and you don't know shit. Heard all the gloom and doom in my career. Heck if I had listen to "managers" 24 years ago I would have quit because "the business is changing" "there's going to be layoffs" "the union has to give back". And I would have missed out on the boom of the 90s where I made a shit load of money.... Not to mention the benefits, pension accrual, 401k match and the list goes on and on

Truth is you low level manger types don't really know anything. The manager who told me in 1994 "there has to be layoffs the business is changing" got riffed a couple of years later and guess what- I'm still here

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Post ID: @1mtf+Gh1hPHr

You posted this on thelayoff.com because you have friends at vz you cafe about.

Spare us.

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Post ID: @1sav+Gh1hPHr

Captain obvious, yes we have wireless in all 50 states, and we pay other landline carriers for all data transmitted. Here in the northeast we pay ourselves, at a discount. We all know who places, installs, and maintains that fiber. I agree 5g seems to be the future, but not so fast, it will take time for Mcadam to realize his dream.

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Post ID: @bov+Gh1hPHr

I think the Op is right on cue. I also think their are alot of folks in vzb to be out of jobs or working for a new buyer very soon. Fios is an abandoned blunder just like go90 and hum soon will be also. The only thing worth anything is the wireless network and we have already sold all the cell sites off just to lease back...what a cluster

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Post ID: @uts+Gh1hPHr

Good to know. Thanks for sharing.

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Post ID: @zpw+Gh1hPHr

Doubtful the OP was ever a manager. Most of the statements are either exaggerated or just flat out wrong.

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Post ID: @wbg+Gh1hPHr

We have fiber all over the country, it is called VZB, WTF people. The XO fiber we just purchased is nationwide too. We own the Internet backbone, we just don't know how to monetize it as well as others.

5G is the future. The network is the only thing we do well. Go 90, hum, and the others will go the way of Terremark. We have kept AOL separate, in hopes of not infecting it with our culture of politics and favoritism.

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Post ID: @vtf+Gh1hPHr

This is the best post on this site that I have seen so far

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Post ID: @nvi+Gh1hPHr

@ the hater. They ride "a" wireline network. They don't necessarily ride FiOS. Sure, the wholesale, large scale, fiber pipelines have to be in place channel the traffic but that is running the fiber tower-to-tower and wireless switch to wireless switch. That doesn't include FiOS (fiber to consumer premises). If that were the case the company would never have sold off the Fl, Tx, and Ca assets. Also, how do you think wireless works in states where FiOS doesn't exist? Wireless does not rely on FiOS. Because it doesn't rely on FiOS it doesn't rely on the Union. I, as a former manager, have nothing against the union. I understand their situation. FiOS was only ever available in about ten states (give or take -it's late and I'm not going to add them up). Wireless has bee available in all 50 states for over a decade. Please explain to me why wireless needs wireline in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Colorado, Washington state, Oregon, etc etc etc. There is no wireline there and wireless is doing fine. I'm not bitter. I gave over ten years of my life to VZW and VZ landline. It was a great experience. I learned a lot. The company invested a lot in me and I've benefited from it. I had a job 3 hours after I got RIF'd and I owe a lot to Verizon for that kind of marketability. But the fact remains, telecom (esp wireline but also wireless) is no longer a high growth industry. It's also not a monopoly like it was prior to the 1980's. It's a mature oligopoly with declining profit margins, high overhead, and a desperate need to cut costs. I posted this because I have friends still at VZ that I care about and I care about all my former employees. You all are great people. Leave on your own terms. Don't wait to leave on theirs. Verizon landline and wireless is populated by smart, driven, professional individuals. There are lots of companies out there that would love to hire you. You're not stuck.

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Post ID: @dis+Gh1hPHr

It is called small cell back haul...he is correct the future of backhaul is wireless also. Sorry you are on the wrong side of the house.

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Post ID: @pwo+Gh1hPHr

Give it up wireline lover. It is over. Once 5g is deployed you won't even be needed for the backhaul. You are obviously the one who needs to learn about the future of telecom. If technology advances give you the speed and capacity via wireless the union maintained wirelined days are drawing to an end. It is so obvious why the keep stalling to sign a new contract. Everyday gone is a day closer it won't be needed. If wireless was unionized it would at least give you a chance to stay employed, but VZ has managed to convince the wireless kool-aid drinkers they are better off without any organized voice or bargaining power. We are all screwed. I agree, with the op it might be time to try and find an employer that actually appreciates and values it's employees

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Post ID: @zay+Gh1hPHr

Once again, we have someone who "supposedly" was on both sides of the fence, ie: wireline and wireless. It never ceases to amaze me, the positive idiocy of statements like yours. Do you have any grasp of the business at all ? Does Lowell ? Do any of the morons in Basking Ridge. NOW HEAR THIS: 90 Percent ! HEAR ME ? 90 Percent of ALL WIRELESS CALLS AND DATA RIDE A WIRELINE NETWORK !! Have you even heard of the FTTC Projects that have been underway for the last 10 years ? Do you think that 3G, 4G and 5G Technologies are all pure Radio Frequency Magic Shows ?? Verizon can dump all it's Wireline assets any time it wants, but for the Technology to work they MUST own or lease DEDICATED Fiber for their pathetic little WALKIE TALKIE systems to work. That means that Fiber deployment and Networks will continue to be built, operated and maintained. DUDE, no wonder you got RIF'd.....you don't seem to know a f---ing thing about Telco...

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Post ID: @kcb+Gh1hPHr

sour ass grapes

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Post ID: @ksu+Gh1hPHr

Thank you for sharing

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Post ID: @rix+Gh1hPHr

This is so true.

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Post ID: @ahg+Gh1hPHr

Excellent synopsis sadly I agree

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Post ID: @xkt+Gh1hPHr

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