Dear Dirty America

The truth is that this proposed strike is at the heart of what has turned into a nightmare at Verizon. A continuous stream of letters from workers and customers to Teletruth has convinced us that what should really be happening isn’t simply a strike by Verizon staffers, but maybe customers should also go on strike. With a take-the-money-and-run mentality, good staffers are being replaced with inexperienced ones or there aren’t enough staffers to do specific jobs. The network is a mess. It is based on 100-years old copper wiring and parts of it are crumbling. The construction budget has been slashed and critical upgrades have not been done. In some parts of the New York City, there isn’t enough copper wiring to offer broadband or even second lines. But what should annoy the reader is —How can Verizon continually cut staff and services, but continually raise rates and make more profits — profits which have gone, not to upgrades in the networks, but to pay for overseas losses and other global concerns, not to mention the debt they incurred from these ventures, excessive compensation for senior management, and funding their other competitive businesses, including offering DSL or their long distance service. The network and its staff are essential, monopoly facilities for wireline phone services that are required to work at maximum performance for the good of the Public Interest. And while the hype is that there’s competition, the reality is Verizon is still a monopoly and still a utility. Verizon is now saying, we’re a private company and we can do what we want — screw the customers and our staff.