Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) is facing allegations from Communications Workers of America for refusing to restore damaged landlines.
The Union represents more than 35000 employees from the service provider. It claims that the company has not been mending the copper lines in some regions of the North East. The Union also claims that the company has been abandoning the repairs so it can push customers to purchase Voice Link, a wireless phone service designed for homes.
Bob Master, the political leader of the of CWA’s northern division claims that Verizon has been strategically overlooking the legacy network. The result has been the deterioration of the phone service for many customers. The claims have emerged just a few days shy of the negotiations for a new contract between the union and the company. The meeting for the contract was to be held before the end of this month.
Verizon’s spokesman responded to the claims with a statement that the allegations are not true and that the firm is in fact not abandoning its copper wires. He further added that the union has been making these claims to put pressure on Verizon prior to their meeting.
Mr. Young revealed that Verizon still regards the copper wire network with a lot of value. The Voice Link service is just a temporary substitute that the company has been offering its clients while it carries out restoration measures over the damaged lines. Young also added that some 13000 clients have decided to settle with the Voice service though Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) still identifies that other clients want to remain with the land line service.
The Union also identifies that a shift to the mobile network creates equal job opportunities as those of the workers fixing the lines. Verizon’s landline service has about 10.5 million users with half of them using copper wire connections. The company recently sold its wireline assets in Florida, California and Texas to Frontier Communications Corp. for $10.5 million after successfully shifting more than 800,000 clients to its fiber FiOS service.
