Verizon will cut 10,000 jobs

Verizon will cut 10,000 jobs, mostly through attrition, and will cut costs by slashing employee overtime and the use of outside contractors, the company said Wednesday during an analyst meeting.

It is expected that the cuts will hit the company's telecom group, which provides wire line service, said company spokesman Dave Frail. Verizon has about 260,000 employees with operations in the U.S. and 18 other countries.

The equivalent of about 4,000 jobs will be cut by eliminating contractors and reducing overtime, with another 4,000 let go through the traditional attrition rate of 1% to 2% annually, Frail said. Another 2,000 employees could be subject to job shifts within the company or to layoffs.

Verizon was created June 30, 2000, when Bell Atlantic and GTE merged.

Verizon, in New York, is at www.verizon.com/.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.