Fighting the Attack on GOOD JOBS: In Verizon/Wal-Mart Sales Deal, Contract Clerks Tout the Competiti

"It was a real slap in the face" for her Verizon business office members to find the company's DSL broadband service being sold at — of all places — Wal-Mart, said Local 2106 President Paula Vinciguerra of Salisbury, Md.

More than that, the Verizon/Wal-Mart alliance also was both a direct contract violation and a boneheaded marketing move by the company, she said.

Vinciguerra went to her local Wal-Mart, which she heard was selling Verizon DSL as well as Comcast and Vonage services, and posed as a customer asking about broadband; the sales clerk immediately told her, "Oh you definitely want Comcast — it's ten times faster than DSL."

CWA has filed grievances so far in District 2 and 13 over DLS sales at Wal-Mart and also Best Buy, citing contract language that was won during a strike in 2000 that says Verizon sales reps should be the prime point of customer contact for DSL sales.

The deal not only is a potential job threat, it undercuts CWA members' sales commissions and adds pressure to meet sales quotas because the box store sales clerks have an unfair advantage in pushing service.

Vinciguerra discovered that the Wal-Mart and Best Buy clerks are allowed to offer steeper service discounts and better rebates on equipment than Verizon employees can.

Said CWA Representative Gail Evans, "With this situation, customers can spend time with our members getting information about DSL, then go down the street and save a buck ordering it at Wal-Mart, then come back to have us explain it to them or fix something."

Ironically, while Wal-Mart sales reps are steering customers to the competition, Vinciguerra and her members are pressured to retain customers or bring them back from the cable and satellite companies as Verizon and other telecoms see their landline business eroding.

"Our CWA employees are trained to ask the customer about their working systems and help them with their overall communications needs, but not the clerks at Wal-Mart, based on my experience," she said.

An internal company bulletin says Verizon DSL is being offered at 549 Wal-Marts across the country.

JEFF MILLER