Turmoil in de-regulated phone industry
"On the eve of divestiture [in 1984], AT&T was
the world's largest private employer with over one
million employees....Since divestiture AT&T has
eliminated some 140,000 bargaining unit jobs,
while it has established and purchased major
nonunion subsidiaries....Since October 1993, major
corporate restructurings accelerated [among the
Regional Bell Operating Companies or RBOCs, the
companies that were created as a result of the
AT&T divestiture]...US West announced the
elimination of 9,400 jobs...Bell South said it was
eliminating 10,800 jobs...GTE announced the
elimination of 17,000 jobs...Pacific Telesis said
it would downsize by 10,000 jobs at Pacific
Bell... AT&T declared it would eliminate another
15,000 jobs on top of already scheduled force
reductions of 6,000 operator and call servicing
positions and 7,500 jobs at Global Information
Solutions, formerly NCR...Ameritech said it would
reduce its workforce by 6,000...NYNEX...scaled
back its plans to eliminate 22,500 jobs to 16,800
positions....
"From the standpoint of labor-management
relations, this massive industrial restructuring
is in jeopardy of severing the traditional link
between high productivity growth through rapid
technological change and rising employee incomes
with employment security. When compared to the
decade prior to divestiture, post-divestiture
productivity growth has fallen by one-half as
networks are duplicated and many of the one
million employees in the industry now face chronic
insecurity, displacement, and stagnating incomes.
Breaking the industry's social contract through
this uncoupling may have serious long term
consequences for productivity, service quality,
and stable labor-management relations."
"Telecommunications Labor-Management Relations
One Decade After the AT&T Divestiture," a paper
presented by Jeffrey Keefe, Institute of
Management and Labor Relations, Rutgers
University, and Karen Boroff, Stillman School of
Business, Seton Hall University, at the conference
on "International Developments in Workplace
Innovation: Implications for Canadian
Competitiveness," Park Plaza Hotel, Toronto, June
15 and 16, 1995, pages 1-5.
Sid Shniad
