'Secret' Pact May Have Undermined Lucent Workers
Joseph Kanan, president of the Communications Workers of America, the union that represents the workers, has reportedly denied the claims.
Nearly 350 workers accepted an early retirement package
offered last summer that gave them as much as $40,000 in
compensation, said lawyers representing some of the
workers, who plan to sue the company and the union.
Shortly after the initial packages were offered, almost
1,250 workers accepted a second early retirement package
that capped compensation at $100,000. However, many of
these employees had less seniority than the people who
accepted the first package.
Lawyers for the former employees contend that they were led
to believe that the first package would be the only one
offered, even though union and company officials knew that
the second buyout offer would be greater than the first.
They also assert that Lucent and the union did not tell
workers about the second offer to reduce the number of
people eligible for it.