Verizon has been downsizing and laying people off. Of course the top level management knew this merger was about to happen, and this is an example of why the low level workers are always wrong about their assumptions such as:
"Management is incompetent, don't they know this is bad for morale?"
"Why are they laying so many off? We don't have the people we need to do the job. They're so stupid!"
No, they aren't stupid or incompetent, they're informed and making the changes in advance of events they know will require those changes. So now you know why it's happening, and it will only get worse for Verizon, but employees of T Mobile and Spring can expect layoffs due to "Redundancies" as well, so if you're thinking you'll get a job with them, think again.