Union: Verizon Wants to Close Binghamton Center

A union official says Verizon has proposed shutting down a service center in Binghamton.

Barb Carson, vice president of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 2213, said the company wants to transfer 20 workers from the consumer sales and service center.

The office is in the Verizon building at 64 Henry Street. Carson said the last contract proposal from the company would have given the employees the option of transferring to Elmira or Syracuse.

Nearly 40,000 Verizon workers represented by the IBEW and the Communications Workers of America went on strike Wednesday. The strike includes company locations in New York, Pennsylvania and several other states.

Carson said about 20 people now work in the Verizon sales and service center in Binghamton. She said more than 150 worked at the facility about a decade ago.

Carson said about a half-dozen people who work at the Binghamton central office would remain there under the company proposal. Those employees are represented by the CWA.

A Verizon spokesman could not immediately comment on the company's plans for its Binghamton operation.

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