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Verizon Layoff Threat Leads to Injuries
Two Local 1101 central office technicians lay hospitalized with serious back injuries as the Newsletter went to press, victims of pole climbing accidents in Verizon's misguided attempt to ensure continuity of service if the company goes through with up to 4,000 planned layoffs.
John Huttick, 49, an inside technician from the company's 375 Pearl Street location in Manhattan, fell from a pole on Dec. 13 while in training the company required him to take in Garden City on Long Island.
Sal Schembry, 32, from the same office as Huttick, fell in a similar incident on Dec. 17 at the company's pole climbing school in southern New Jersey.
"There's something very wrong here," said CWA District 1 Vice President Larry Mancino, "when the company will use people who are not qualified to do outside work and when our members are so hungry for a job they'll put their lives in jeopardy."
CWA has been doing everything possible to avert the layoffs, working with state and local elected officials throughout New York and with the state's Public Service Commission to focus attention on Verizon's increasing service problems and systems in need of immediate repair.
The union has also conducted a media campaign in New York state, featuring radio, print and television ads linking quality customer service and quality jobs. New York CWA members rallied in Manhattan, chanting the campaign theme, "Can you hear us now?"
Chris Shelton, CWA's downstate New York/Connecticut director, said Verizon told about 300 inside techs in New York last Wednesday afternoon that they were to report to one of several pole-climbing schools the next morning. In addition to the two schools where the accidents occurred, Verizon conducts pole training in Syracuse, N.Y., and in Pennsylvania, Shelton said.
"I'm told that in the school where Huttick was that there were three instructors for five groups, and there should be one instructor for each group," Shelton said.
The reassignments are "devastating" to workers and their families, said Local 1101 Executive Vice President Angel Feliciano. "You've got people who are used to doing sedentary work. They're not fit for climbing poles."
Huttick had a former back problem and told the company before he went up the pole, Feliciano said. "Now he's got three crunched vertebrae and a broken ankle."
Schembry has one crushed vertebra, Feliciano said.
The Local 1101 officer said that the trainees were supposed to have "rubber band" safety belts but apparently didn't.
Shelton said the union was still investigating the circumstances and was considering filing lawsuits and appropriate charges for occupational safety and health violations.
John Huttick, 49, an inside technician from the company's 375 Pearl Street location in Manhattan, fell from a pole on Dec. 13 while in training the company required him to take in Garden City on Long Island.
Sal Schembry, 32, from the same office as Huttick, fell in a similar incident on Dec. 17 at the company's pole climbing school in southern New Jersey.
"There's something very wrong here," said CWA District 1 Vice President Larry Mancino, "when the company will use people who are not qualified to do outside work and when our members are so hungry for a job they'll put their lives in jeopardy."
CWA has been doing everything possible to avert the layoffs, working with state and local elected officials throughout New York and with the state's Public Service Commission to focus attention on Verizon's increasing service problems and systems in need of immediate repair.
The union has also conducted a media campaign in New York state, featuring radio, print and television ads linking quality customer service and quality jobs. New York CWA members rallied in Manhattan, chanting the campaign theme, "Can you hear us now?"
Chris Shelton, CWA's downstate New York/Connecticut director, said Verizon told about 300 inside techs in New York last Wednesday afternoon that they were to report to one of several pole-climbing schools the next morning. In addition to the two schools where the accidents occurred, Verizon conducts pole training in Syracuse, N.Y., and in Pennsylvania, Shelton said.
"I'm told that in the school where Huttick was that there were three instructors for five groups, and there should be one instructor for each group," Shelton said.
The reassignments are "devastating" to workers and their families, said Local 1101 Executive Vice President Angel Feliciano. "You've got people who are used to doing sedentary work. They're not fit for climbing poles."
Huttick had a former back problem and told the company before he went up the pole, Feliciano said. "Now he's got three crunched vertebrae and a broken ankle."
Schembry has one crushed vertebra, Feliciano said.
The Local 1101 officer said that the trainees were supposed to have "rubber band" safety belts but apparently didn't.
Shelton said the union was still investigating the circumstances and was considering filing lawsuits and appropriate charges for occupational safety and health violations.