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A Tale of Two Mikes and One Corporate Giant
Mike Martinelli takes pride in his work and his legacy - between him, his mom and dad and his grandfather, his family has collectively given Verizon and its predecessors more than a century of service.
For Christmas last year, Verizon thanked the young technician with a pink slip.
Michael Masin was one of the legions of corporate lawyers at Verizon. He quit his job recently, which couldn't have been too tough a financial decision considering that he pocketed $39 million from the company over the previous five years.
The contrast in the men's treatment by the telecom giant was highlighted in a piece CWA Executive Vice President Larry Cohen penned earlier this year for The Nation magazine.
Co-authored with CWA District 1 Representative Steve Early, the article noted that Martinelli - a member of CWA Local 1109 - had been bold enough to e-mail Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg to protest the layoffs.
Seidenberg's stunning reply? "It is not realistic in this day and age to expect a lifetime of employment," he wrote back.
"Of course, Seidenberg and other telecom bosses expect guaranteed rewards for themselves - whether they stay or go, perform well or do poorly," Cohen wrote, going on to detail the millions that Masin was paid before stepping down. "During the same period, Seidenberg and two other executives pocketed $194 million in total salary, bonuses and stock options - compensation they claim is only 'mid-range' for the industry!"
Martinelli, 31, doesn't necessarily begrudge the executives their high salaries. But he said it shouldn't come at the cost of the jobs of loyal workers. He'd been at the company for four years when he was laid off last December, along with 3,400 fellow Verizon workers.
Martinelli said he was compelled to write Seidenberg about the hardship of the layoffs and how the once worker- and family-friendly company had changed for the worse. "I was just letting him know how I felt, that it used to be a fun place to work, and the people before felt respected and wanted by the company."
His grandfather, Michael Martinelli, retired from the phone company in 1973 after 45 years as a splicer. His mother, Marilyn, was an operator/clerk for 20 years. And his father, Donald, worked for the telephone company for 41 years. A dedicated member of CWA Local 1109, he regularly called the union's taped message line to keep up on the latest news after he retired in 1998.
Through the first half of 2003, he never gave up believing that CWA would succeed in its fight to get his son and the other workers their jobs back. The morning of July 11, he answered a phone call for his son and learned that CWA had won the arbitration case that returned the laid-off workers to their jobs with back pay.
"My father, 69 years old and big in size, 6 feet 3 inches and 250 pounds, came charging into my room, waking me up to tell me the good news. That was one of the highlights of his life," Martinelli said.
The day that Martinelli returned to work, July 30, his dad got up at 6 a.m. to see him off. "As I was walking out the door, his last words to me were, 'Have fun back at work, Mike.'"
That night, his father had a heart attack. He died two days later. Martinelli said he's so grateful that his father lived long enough to see the union prevail.
"As proud as I am to work at this job and be part of a great union," he said, "I think he was just a bit more proud and a bit more excited that I got my job back."
For Christmas last year, Verizon thanked the young technician with a pink slip.
Michael Masin was one of the legions of corporate lawyers at Verizon. He quit his job recently, which couldn't have been too tough a financial decision considering that he pocketed $39 million from the company over the previous five years.
The contrast in the men's treatment by the telecom giant was highlighted in a piece CWA Executive Vice President Larry Cohen penned earlier this year for The Nation magazine.
Co-authored with CWA District 1 Representative Steve Early, the article noted that Martinelli - a member of CWA Local 1109 - had been bold enough to e-mail Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg to protest the layoffs.
Seidenberg's stunning reply? "It is not realistic in this day and age to expect a lifetime of employment," he wrote back.
"Of course, Seidenberg and other telecom bosses expect guaranteed rewards for themselves - whether they stay or go, perform well or do poorly," Cohen wrote, going on to detail the millions that Masin was paid before stepping down. "During the same period, Seidenberg and two other executives pocketed $194 million in total salary, bonuses and stock options - compensation they claim is only 'mid-range' for the industry!"
Martinelli, 31, doesn't necessarily begrudge the executives their high salaries. But he said it shouldn't come at the cost of the jobs of loyal workers. He'd been at the company for four years when he was laid off last December, along with 3,400 fellow Verizon workers.
Martinelli said he was compelled to write Seidenberg about the hardship of the layoffs and how the once worker- and family-friendly company had changed for the worse. "I was just letting him know how I felt, that it used to be a fun place to work, and the people before felt respected and wanted by the company."
His grandfather, Michael Martinelli, retired from the phone company in 1973 after 45 years as a splicer. His mother, Marilyn, was an operator/clerk for 20 years. And his father, Donald, worked for the telephone company for 41 years. A dedicated member of CWA Local 1109, he regularly called the union's taped message line to keep up on the latest news after he retired in 1998.
Through the first half of 2003, he never gave up believing that CWA would succeed in its fight to get his son and the other workers their jobs back. The morning of July 11, he answered a phone call for his son and learned that CWA had won the arbitration case that returned the laid-off workers to their jobs with back pay.
"My father, 69 years old and big in size, 6 feet 3 inches and 250 pounds, came charging into my room, waking me up to tell me the good news. That was one of the highlights of his life," Martinelli said.
The day that Martinelli returned to work, July 30, his dad got up at 6 a.m. to see him off. "As I was walking out the door, his last words to me were, 'Have fun back at work, Mike.'"
That night, his father had a heart attack. He died two days later. Martinelli said he's so grateful that his father lived long enough to see the union prevail.
"As proud as I am to work at this job and be part of a great union," he said, "I think he was just a bit more proud and a bit more excited that I got my job back."