NEW YORK — Communications services company Verizon said yesterday it may cut more than the 10,000 positions it previously announced, but according to Tracey Kennedy, spokeswoman for Verizon’s Rhode Island operations, the effect here will be “negligible.”
According to reports, Verizon is seeking to reduce expenses and consolidate operations. The number of additional positions that may be eliminated was not available.
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Verizon was created by last year’s merger of Bell Atlantic Corp. and GTE Corp. In February, the company announced it planned to cut the equivalent of 10,000 positions, or 5 percent of its core telecom business, through attrition, eliminating overtime and stopping the use of contract workers. Meanwhile, it has added positions to its wireless, data and Internet units, areas it believes have more growth potential than local telephone operations.
According to reports, Verizon employed some 260,000 workers companywide at the beginning of the year.
Kennedy told PBN.com that of the 10,000 position eliminations announced earlier this year, 4,000 were to be cut through the elimination of overtime and contract workers; 4,000 would be cut through attrition; and the remaining 2,000 workers would be given the opportunity to seek other positions in “higher growth” areas of the company — such as wireless services. Verizon operates in 38 states, she added.
Kennedy was unable to provide any numbers considering potential job losses in Rhode Island. However, she said that with the opening of a new dispatch center in Providence, and the resulting creation of 12 jobs, overall job loss or gain here would be “flat.” There may be some job reduction due to attrition, she said.
